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Rights of the child: protection of the rights of the child in humanitarian situations, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- 26(d) Mainstream prevention of and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, child, early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation and violence against children, including sexual and gender-based violence, into emergency and humanitarian responses, and address the underlying factors that make children, especially girls, particularly vulnerable to these practices;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2018
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings 2017, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Encourages States to promote open dialogue with all parties concerned, including religious and community leaders, women, girls, men and boys, parents, legal guardians, and other family members, as well as humanitarian and development actors in order to address the concerns and specific needs of those at risk of child, early and forced marriage within humanitarian settings, and to address social norms, gender stereotypes and harmful practices that contribute to the acceptance and continuation of the practice of child, early and forced marriage, including by raising awareness of its harm to the victims and the cost to society at large;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The forced sterilization of girls and young women with disabilities represents a widespread human rights violation across the globe. Girls and young women with disabilities are disproportionately subjected to forced and involuntary sterilization for different reasons, including eugenics, menstrual management and pregnancy prevention. Women with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, as well as those placed in institutions, are particularly vulnerable to forced sterilization. Despite the limited data on current practices, studies show that the sterilization of women and girls with disabilities continues to be prevalent, and up to three times higher than the rate for the general population.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Girls and young women with disabilities are disproportionately affected by different forms of gender-based violence, including physical, sexual, psychological and emotional abuse; bullying; coercion; arbitrary deprivation of liberty; institutionalization; female infanticide; trafficking; neglect; domestic violence; and harmful practices such as child and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, forced sterilization and invasive and irreversible involuntary treatments (see A/HRC/20/5, paras. 12-27). Many of those forms of violence are a consequence of the intersection between disability and gender, and might happen while a girl or young woman with disabilities performs daily hygiene, receives treatment or is overmedicated. Gender-based violence occurs at home, in institutions, in schools, in health centres and in other public and private facilities, and perpetrators are frequently relatives, caregivers and professionals on whom the girl or young woman may depend.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The girl child 2017, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Urges all States to enact, uphold and strictly enforce laws and policies aimed at preventing and ending child, early and forced marriage and protecting those at risk and to ensure that marriage is entered into only with the informed, free and full consent of the intending spouses, to enact and strictly enforce laws concerning the minimum legal age of consent and the minimum age for marriage, to raise the minimum age for marriage, engage all relevant stakeholders, including girls, where necessary, and ensure that these laws are well known, to further develop and implement holistic, comprehensive and coordinated policies, plans of action and programmes and to support already married girls and adolescents and ensure the provision of viable alternatives and institutional support, especially educational opportunities for girls, to ensure the survival, protection, development and advancement of the girl child in order to promote and protect the full enjoyment of her human rights and to ensure equal opportunities for girls, including by making such plans an integral part of her total development process;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Women in development 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Stresses the need to take action to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls, including in the world of work, through the strengthening of institutional mechanisms and legal frameworks, given that violence and discrimination, including multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, against women and girls in private and public spaces are a major impediment to the achievement of the empowerment of women and girls and their social and economic development that no country has managed to eliminate, and encourages the adoption of specific preventive measures to protect women and girls, youth and children from violence, abuse and neglect, sexual abuse, exploitation, harassment, trafficking in persons and harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, taking into account the need to address negative social norms, structural barriers and gender stereotypes that affect women in the world of work and to develop measures to promote the re-entry of victims and survivors of violence into the labour market;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings 2017, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States, with the participation of relevant stakeholders, including girls, women, religious and community leaders, civil society and human rights groups, humanitarian actors, men and boys, and youth organizations, to develop and implement holistic, comprehensive and coordinated responses, strategies and policies to prevent, respond to and eliminate child, early and forced marriage, including in humanitarian settings, and to support already married girls, adolescents and women, including through the strengthening of child protection systems, protection mechanisms, such as safe shelters, access to justice and legal remedies, and the sharing of best practices across borders, in full compliance with international human rights obligations and commitments;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- There has been progress on these issues in Malawi, including the adoption in 2015 of the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, which increased the minimum age of marriage to 18 years; the Government's commitment, in November 2016, to align the Constitution with that legislation and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; and the crucial role played by traditional leaders in mobilizing their communities to prevent the early and forced marriage of girls and to ensure their return to school to pursue their education.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings 2017, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage constitutes a serious threat to the full realization of the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health of women and girls, including but not limited to their sexual and reproductive health, significantly increasing the risk of early, frequent and unwanted pregnancy, maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity, obstetric fistula and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, as well as increasing vulnerability to all forms of violence,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings 2017, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to enact, enforce, harmonize and uphold laws and policies aimed at preventing, responding to and eliminating child, early and forced marriage, protecting those at risk, including in humanitarian settings, and supporting already married women and girls, and to ensure that marriage is entered into only with the informed, free and full consent of the intending spouses and that women have equality with men in all matters pertaining to marriage, divorce, child custody and the economic consequences of marriage and its dissolution;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- In October 2016, in Malawi, the Special Representative promoted the further implementation of the policy agenda launched during her previous visit undertaken in response to the findings of the 2015 violence against children survey. During the follow-up visit, she paid special attention to the prevention and abandonment of harmful practices, helping to focus national attention on the prevalence of child marriage, abuse associated with sexual initiation ceremonies, attacks against children with albinism and other practices compromising the rights of children, particularly girls.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Violations of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, such as forced sterilization, forced abortion, forced pregnancy, criminalization of abortion, denial or delay of safe abortion and/or post-abortion care, forced continuation of pregnancy, and abuse and mistreatment of women and girls seeking sexual and reproductive health information, goods and services, are forms of gender-based violence that, depending on the circumstances, may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Rights of the child: protection of the rights of the child in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 2017, para. 22e
- Paragraph text
- [Urges States to take all the measures necessary to implement fully the objectives of the 2030 Agenda to contribute to the realization of the rights of the child by, inter alia:] Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all young women and girls by ending all forms of discrimination and violence against them in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation, and eliminating all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, including by attaining all Goals and targets related to Goal 5;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Realizing the equal enjoyment of the right to education by every girl 2017, para. 2c
- Paragraph text
- [Urges all States:] To review, repeal and eliminate, as appropriate, laws, policies and practices that can negatively affect the right to education of every girl, including discriminatory laws, policies, practices, customs, traditions or religious considerations, financial barriers, violence, including sexual violence in the school environment, the worst forms of child labour, and harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation, gender stereotypes, child, early and forced marriage and early pregnancy;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Girls with disabilities are also likely to be proposed for marriage in regions and communities where child marriage occurs. Indeed, families are more prone to force girls with disabilities into marriage because they see it as a way to ensure long-term security and protection for their children. In addition, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has strongly condemned the practice of female genital mutilation affecting girls and women with disabilities in a number of countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Rights of the child: protection of the rights of the child in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned also that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation and that 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation every year, and expressing further concern that more than 720 million women alive today were married before their eighteenth birthday and that more than one in three (about 250 million) entered into such a union before the age of 15, and that, although boys are affected, child, early and forced marriage disproportionately affects girls,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Gender discrimination and violence based on moral and religious constructs regarding the social or marital status of the mother have been a key driver of illegal adoptions in several countries. In Ireland, the so-called mother and baby homes, which were managed by Catholic organizations, and other maternity institutions, were established in the 1920s to deal with unmarried pregnant women and girls and operated until the 1990s. Conditions in those institutions were deplorable and cases of violence against the women were common (e.g. abuse of expectant mothers, forced labour, neglect and detention). Before the 1952 Adoption Act, most children born out of wedlock were placed in foster care, "boarded out" or informally adopted. After passage of the Act, children were put up for formal adoption. Consent was improperly induced or forcibly obtained and documents, including illegal birth registrations, were falsified on a large scale. Furthermore, there were cases of intercountry adoptions, in particular to the United States of America, which often resulted from the same illegal practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings 2017, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States to promote the meaningful participation of and active consultation with children and adolescents affected by humanitarian settings, especially girls, on all issues affecting them, and to raise awareness about their rights, including the negative impact of child, early and forced marriage, through safe spaces, forums and support networks that provide girls and boys with information, life skills and leadership skills training and opportunities to be empowered, to express themselves, to participate meaningfully in all decisions that affect them and to become agents of change within their communities;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings 2017, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- Recognizes that child, early and forced marriage constitutes a violation, abuse or impairment of human rights and a harmful practice that prevents individuals from living their lives free from all forms of violence, and that it has wide-ranging and adverse consequences for the enjoyment of human rights, such as the right to education and the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including sexual and reproductive health, and that every girl and woman at risk of or affected by these practices must have equal access to quality education, counselling, shelter and other social services, psychological, sexual and reproductive health-care services and medical care;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The girl child 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned also about discrimination against the girl child and the violation of the rights of the girl child, including girls with disabilities, bearing in mind their specific needs, which often result in less access for girls to education, and to quality education, nutrition, including food allocation, and physical and mental health-care services, in girls enjoying fewer of the rights, opportunities and benefits of childhood and adolescence than boys, and in leaving them more vulnerable than boys to the consequences of unprotected and premature sexual relations and often being subjected to various forms of cultural, social, sexual and economic exploitation and violence, abuse, rape, incest, honour-related crimes and harmful practices, such as female infanticide, child, early and forced marriage, prenatal sex selection and female genital mutilation,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The girl child 2017, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned further that, despite its widespread practice, child, early and forced marriage is still underreported, recognizing that this requires further attention and that child, early and forced marriage exposes the girl child to greater risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections, often leads to premature sexual relations, early pregnancy and early childbearing and increases the risk of obstetric fistula and high levels of maternal mortality and morbidity, and furthermore entails complications during pregnancy and childbirth, which often lead to disability, stillbirth and maternal death, particularly for young women and girls, which require appropriate prenatal and postnatal health-care services for mothers, including in the area of skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care, and noting with concern that this reduces girls’ opportunities to complete their education, gain comprehensive knowledge, participate in the community or develop employable skills and is likely to have a long-term adverse impact on their physical and mental health and well-being, their employment opportunities and their quality of life and that of their children, and violates and/or impairs the full enjoyment of their human rights,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The girl child 2017, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Urges all States to enact and enforce legislation to protect girls from all forms of violence, discrimination, exploitation and harmful practices in all settings, including female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, female genital mutilation, rape, domestic violence, incest, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material, trafficking and forced migration, forced labour and child, early and forced marriage, and to develop age-appropriate, safe, confidential and disability-accessible programmes and medical, social and psychological support services to assist girls who are subjected to violence and discrimination;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Improvement of the situation of women and girls in rural areas 2017, para. 2m
- Paragraph text
- [Urges Member States, in collaboration with the organizations of the United Nations system and civil society, as appropriate, to continue their efforts to implement the outcome of and to ensure an integrated and coordinated follow-up to the relevant United Nations conferences and summits, including their reviews, and to attach greater importance to the improvement of the situation of rural women and girls in their national, regional and global development strategies by, inter alia:] Eliminating all forms of violence against rural women and girls in public and private spaces through multisectoral and coordinated approaches to prevent and respond to violence against rural women and girls, to investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of violence against rural women and girls and end impunity, and to provide protection as well as equal access to comprehensive social, health and legal services for all victims and survivors to support their full recovery and reintegration into society, including by providing access to psychosocial support and rehabilitation, and bearing in mind the importance of all women and girls living free from violence, such as gender-related killings, including femicide, and harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, as well as of addressing the structural and underlying causes of violence against women and girls through enhanced prevention measures, research and strengthened coordination and monitoring and evaluation, by, inter alia, encouraging awareness-raising activities;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- While United Nations human rights instruments, mechanisms and agencies have recognized that the forced sterilization of persons with disabilities constitutes discrimination, a form of violence, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the practice is still legal and applied in many countries. Across the globe, many legal systems allow judges, health-care professionals, family members and guardians to consent to sterilization procedures on behalf of persons with disabilities as being in their “best interest”, particularly for girls with disabilities who are under the legal authority of their parents. The practices are often conducted on a purported precautionary basis because of the vulnerability of girls and young women with disabilities to sexual abuse, and under the fallacy that sterilization would enable girls and young women with disabilities who are “deemed unfit for parenthood” to improve their quality of life without the “burden” of a pregnancy. However, sterilization neither protects them against sexual violence or abuse nor removes the State’s obligation to protect them from such abuse. Forced sterilization is an unacceptable practice with lifelong consequences on the physical and mental integrity of girls and young women with disabilities that must be immediately eradicated and criminalized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- The Commission strongly condemns violence against women and girls in all its forms in public and private spaces, including harassment in the world of work, including sexual harassment, and sexual and gender-based violence, domestic violence, trafficking in persons and femicide, among others, as well as harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, and recognizes that these forms of violence are major impediments to the achievement of women's economic empowerment and their social and economic development, often resulting in, inter alia, absenteeism, missed promotions and job losses, thereby hampering women's ability to enter, advance and remain in the labour market and make contributions commensurate with their abilities, and also recognizes that such violence can impede economic independence and impose direct and indirect short- and long-term costs on society and individuals including, as relevant, lost economic output and the psychological and physical impact thereof, as well as expenses relating to health care, the legal sector, social welfare and specialized services, and further recognizes that women's economic autonomy can expand their options for leaving abusive relationships.
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Further urges States to ensure access to justice and accountability mechanisms and remedies for the effective implementation and enforcement of laws aimed at preventing and eliminating child, early and forced marriage, including in humanitarian settings, including by informing women and girls of their rights under relevant laws, and by improving legal infrastructure and removing all barriers in access to legal counselling, assistance and remedies;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Accelerating efforts to eliminate violence against women: engaging men and boys in preventing and responding to violence against all women and girls 2017, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to condemn strongly and publicly all forms of violence against women and girls in all settings, public and private, and to refrain from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination, including by eliminating all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Girls and young women with disabilities have the same sexual and reproductive health and rights as other girls and young women. However they encounter significant obstacles in exercising and accessing those rights, including stigma and stereotypes, restrictive legislation and a lack of child- and disability-appropriate information and services. Moreover, poverty and/or social exclusion deprive them of the necessary knowledge to develop healthy relationships and increase the risk of sexual abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancies and harmful practices. Grave human rights violations such as forced sterilization, forced abortion and forced contraception are frequent, and the violence experienced by girls and young women with disabilities remains largely invisible.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto: situation of women and girls with disabilities 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Also calls upon States to accelerate efforts to eliminate harmful practices, including child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, and to repeal legislation and regulatory provisions that allow the administration of forced medical procedures such as forced sterilization, forced abortion and forced contraception and to ensure that any medical procedure or intervention is not performed prior to the free and informed consent of women and girls with disabilities;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings 2017, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage is a harmful practice that violates, abuses and impairs human rights and is linked to and perpetuates other harmful practices, including female genital mutilation, and human rights violations, and that such violations have a disproportionately negative impact on women and girls, and underscoring the human rights obligations and commitments of States to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Reaffirming further the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development and their 5-, 10-, 15- and 20 year reviews, as well as the United Nations Millennium Declaration, and the commitments relevant to women and girls made at the 2005 World Summit and reiterated in Assembly resolution 65/1 of 22 September 2010, entitled "Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium Development Goals", and those made in the outcome document of the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post 2015 development agenda, entitled "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development",
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Also calls upon States to develop unified methods and standards for the collection of data on all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, especially forms that are underdocumented, harmful practices such as female genital mutilation, to develop additional indicators to effectively measure progress in eliminating the practice and to reinforce the sharing of good practices relating to the prevention and elimination of the practice at the subregional, regional and global levels;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States to develop, support and implement comprehensive and integrated strategies for the prevention of female genital mutilation, including the training of social workers, medical personnel, community and religious leaders and relevant professionals, and to ensure that they provide competent, supportive services and care to women and girls who are at risk of or who have undergone female genital mutilation and encourage them to report to the appropriate authorities cases in which they believe women or girls are at risk;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that female genital mutilation can be an impediment to the full achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Reaffirming that female genital mutilation is a form of discrimination, an act of violence against women and girls and a harmful practice that constitutes a serious threat to their health, including their psychological, sexual and reproductive health, which can increase adverse obstetric and prenatal outcomes and have fatal consequences for the mother and the newborn, as well as increasing their vulnerability to HIV, and that the elimination of this harmful practice can be achieved only as a result of a comprehensive government-led movement that involves all public and private stakeholders in society, including girls and boys, women and men,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women's empowerment and the link to sustainable development 2016, para. 23r
- Paragraph text
- [The Commission [...] urges Governments, at all levels [...] to take the following actions:] [Strengthening normative, legal and policy frameworks]: Adopt, review and ensure the accelerated and effective implementation of laws that criminalize violence against women and girls, as well as comprehensive, multidisciplinary and gender-sensitive preventive, protective and prosecutorial measures and services to eliminate and prevent all forms of violence against all women and girls, in public and private spaces, as well as harmful practices;
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Many girls are exposed to a wide variety of practices which are harmful to their health and well-being, such as female genital mutilation, discrimination in food allocation resulting in malnutrition and discrimination in access to professional health care. Furthermore, early marriage and adolescent pregnancy have a long-lasting impact on girls' physical integrity and mental health. Pregnancy and childbirth are together the second leading cause of death among 15- to 19-year-old girls globally, putting them at the highest risk of dying or suffering serious lifelong injuries as a result of pregnancy. For example, up to 65 per cent of women with obstetric fistula, which is a severely disabling condition and often results in social exclusion, develop this condition as adolescents.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Women and girls tend to be at risk of honour violence or killing for engaging in sexual relations outside of marriage, choosing partners without their family's approval or behaving in other ways that are considered immoral; Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons are also targeted (A/HRC/29/23). Honour killings have been documented in South-East Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East and affect 5,000-12,000 women each year. States' failure to prevent honour-based violence contravenes their obligations to combat and prevent torture and ill-treatment. This includes failure to grant asylum to persons facing the risk of honour violence in their countries of origin.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 17
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage constitutes a serious threat to multiple aspects of the physical and psychological health of women and girls, including but not limited to their sexual and reproductive health, significantly increasing the risk of early, frequent and unintended pregnancy, maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity, obstetric fistula and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, as well as increasing vulnerability to all forms of violence,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 15
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Encourages relevant United Nations entities and agencies, regional and subregional organizations, within their respective mandates, civil society and other relevant actors and human rights mechanisms to continue to collaborate with Member States in developing and implementing strategies and policies at the national, regional and international levels to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage, as well as to support those who were married as girls and boys;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon the international community, the relevant United Nations entities and civil society and international financial institutions to continue to actively support, through the allocation of increased financial resources and technical assistance, targeted comprehensive programmes that address the needs and priorities of women and girls at risk of or subjected to female genital mutilation;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Reaffirming also that the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and all the relevant conventions, together with the optional protocols thereto, as appropriate, constitute an important contribution to the legal framework for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women and girls,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to condemn all harmful practices that affect women and girls, in particular female genital mutilation, whether committed within or outside a medical institution, and to take all necessary measures, especially through educational campaigns, including enacting and enforcing legislation, to prohibit female genital mutilation and to protect women and girls from this form of violence, and to hold perpetrators to account;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 5
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Also calls upon States to promote the meaningful participation of and active consultation with children and adolescents, especially girls, on all issues affecting them and to raise awareness about their rights, including the negative impact of child, early and forced marriage, through safe spaces, forums and support networks that provide girls and boys with information, life skills and leadership skills training and opportunities to be empowered, to express themselves, to participate meaningfully in all decisions that affect them and to become agents of change within their communities;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 6
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Further calls upon States and encourages other stakeholders to address gender stereotypes, discriminatory social norms and harmful practices that contribute to the acceptance and continuation of the practice of child, early and forced marriage, including by raising awareness of its harm and the cost to society at large and by providing opportunities for discussion, in this regard, among others, within communities, including with the involvement of girls and boys, women and men, religious, traditional and community leaders, and parents and other family members, on the benefits of ending child, early and forced marriage and ensuring that girls and boys receive an education;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States to place a stronger focus on the development and implementation of comprehensive prevention strategies, including the enhancement of educational campaigns, awareness-raising and formal, non-formal and informal education and training in order to promote the direct engagement of girls and boys, women and men and to ensure that all key actors, government officials, including law enforcement and judicial personnel, immigration officials and parliamentarians, health-care providers, civil society, the private sector, community and religious leaders, teachers, employers, media professionals and those directly working with girls, as well as parents, families and communities, work to eliminate attitudes and harmful practices, in particular all forms of female genital mutilation, that negatively affect women and girls;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women's empowerment and the link to sustainable development 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The Commission strongly condemns all forms of violence against all women and girls. It expresses deep concern that discrimination and violence against women and girls, in particular against those who are most vulnerable, continues in all parts of the world and that all forms of violence against women and girls, including, inter alia, sexual and gender-based violence, domestic violence, trafficking in persons and femicide, among others, as well as harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, are impediments to the full achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, the realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all women and girls and the development of their full potential as equal partners with men and boys, as well as the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In line with general recommendation No. 31 (2014) on harmful practices, States parties should eliminate harmful practices, including child and/or forced marriage, female genital mutilation and the inheritance of ancestral debt, which negatively affect the health, well-being and dignity of rural women and girls. They should eliminate discriminatory stereotypes, including those that compromise the equal rights of rural women to land, water and other natural resources. In this regard, States parties should adopt a range of measures, including outreach and support programmes, awareness-raising and media campaigns, in collaboration with traditional leaders and civil society, to eliminate harmful practices and stereotypes.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are subjected to the same harmful practices committed against women without disabilities such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation, crimes committed in the name of so called honour, dowry related violence, widowhood practices and accusations of witchcraft . The consequences of harmful practices goes far beyond social exclusion. It reinforces harmful gender stereotypes, perpetuates inequalities and contributes to discrimination against women and girls. They can result in physical, and psychological violence and economic exploitation. Harmful practice based on patriarchal interpretations of culture cannot be evoked to justify violence against women and girls with disabilities. In addition, women and girls with disabilities are particularly at risk of 'virgin testing' and, regarding HIV/AIDS misbeliefs, "virgin rapes" .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- The First African Girls' Summit on Ending Child Marriage in Africa was held in Lusaka in November 2015. Hosted by the African Union and the Government of Zambia, the Summit gathered Heads of State and Government, ministers responsible for gender and children, United Nations entities, development partners, civil society organizations and religious and traditional leaders, as well as young people who have experienced child marriage. The participants took stock of the progress made to end child marriage across the continent, shared evidence and good practices and renewed their commitment to bringing an end to this and other harmful practices in Africa.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- Developed by the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum, the Model Law has the potential to inform action to end child marriage. This is an area where incremental progress is being achieved, for example with recent legislative developments in the Gambia and the United Republic of Tanzania. In 2015, Malawi adopted the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, which raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 years. The social mobilization around that process and the important partnership developed with traditional leaders helped to raise awareness of the new law and achieve important results, including a landmark initiative led by a female traditional chief that resulted in the initial annulment of 330 child marriages in a single district and since then has broken up 850 child marriages and banned the sexual initiation of girls.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Forced sterilization is an act of violence and a form of social control, and violates a person's right to be free from torture and ill-treatment. Full, free and informed consent of the patient herself is critical and can never be excused on the basis of medical necessity or emergency when obtaining consent is still possible (A/HRC/22/53). Gender often intersects with other characteristics such as race, nationality, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age and HIV status to render women and girls at risk of torture and other ill-treatment in the context of sterilization (CAT/C/CZE/CO/4-5, A/HRC/29/40/Add.2) The European Court of Human Rights found that the sterilization of a Roma woman who consented to the procedure only during delivery by caesarean section violated the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment. Documented practices that may violate the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment include Government-sponsored family planning initiatives targeting economically disadvantaged and uneducated women that shortcut the process of obtaining consent, sterilization certificates required by employers and coerced sterilization of HIV-positive women in some States. Despite the fundamental rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, women and girls with disabilities are also particularly vulnerable to forced sterilization and other procedures such as imposed forms of contraception and abortion, especially when they are labelled "incompetent" and placed under guardianship (A/67/227).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 10
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage is a harmful practice that violates, abuses or impairs human rights and is linked to and perpetuates other harmful practices and human rights violations and that such violations have a disproportionately negative impact on women and girls, and underscoring the human rights obligations and commitments of States to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and to prevent and eliminate the practice of child, early and forced marriage,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 1
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States, with the participation of relevant stakeholders, including women and girls, parents and other family members, religious, traditional and community leaders, civil society, organizations led by girls, women's organizations, youth and human rights groups, men and boys, the media and the private sector, to develop and implement holistic, comprehensive and coordinated responses and strategies to eliminate child, early and forced marriage, to support girls and women who are at risk or have been subjected to this practice, including through the strengthening of child protection systems, protection mechanisms such as safe shelters, access to justice and the sharing of best practices across borders;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensification of efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls: domestic violence 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Reaffirming that female genital mutilation is a harmful practice and an act of violence against women and girls that impairs their human rights, constituting a serious threat to their health and well-being, including their psychological, sexual and reproductive health, increasing their vulnerability to HIV and possibly having adverse obstetric and prenatal outcomes, as well as fatal consequences for the mother and the newborn, and that the abandonment of this harmful practice can be achieved as a result of a comprehensive movement that involves all public and private stakeholders in society, including girls, boys, women and men,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Infants
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that female genital mutilation constitutes irreparable, irreversible harm and an act of violence against women and girls that impairs their human rights, and recognizing also that it affects about 200 million women and girls worldwide and that each year an estimated further 4 million girls are at risk of being subjected to the practice throughout the world, which can be an impediment to the full achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Reaffirming that female genital mutilation is a harmful practice, constituting a serious threat to the health of women and girls, including their physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health, increasing their vulnerability to HIV, as well as hepatitis A and B, and possibly having adverse obstetric and prenatal outcomes, as well as fatal consequences for the mother and the newborn, and that the elimination of this harmful practice can be achieved as a result of a comprehensive movement that involves all public and private stakeholders in society, including girls and boys, women and men,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Infants
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Further urges States to promote gender-sensitive, empowering educational processes by reviewing and revising, as appropriate, school curricula, educational materials and teacher-training programmes and elaborating policies and programmes of zero tolerance for violence against girls, including female genital mutilation, placing special emphasis on education about the harmful effects of female genital mutilation, and to further integrate a comprehensive understanding of the causes and consequences of gender-based violence and discrimination against women and girls into education and training curricula at all levels;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to ensure that the protection and provision of support to women and girls subject to, or at risk of, female genital mutilation are an integral part of policies and programmes that address the practice, and to provide women and girls with coordinated, specialized, accessible and quality multisectoral prevention and response, including education, as well as legal, psychological, health-care and social services, provided by qualified personnel, consistent with the guidelines of medical ethics;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women: Preventing and responding to violence against women and girls, including indigenous women and girls 2016, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to condemn strongly and publicly all forms of violence against women and girls, including indigenous women and girls, and to refrain from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination, including harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights 2016, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Urges States and encourages other relevant stakeholders, including national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations, to take action at all levels, utilizing a human rights-based approach to address the interlinked causes of maternal mortality and morbidity, such as lack of accessible, affordable and appropriate health-care services for all, and of information and education, poverty, all types of malnutrition, harmful practices, including child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, early childbearing, gender inequalities and all forms of discrimination and violence against women, and to pay particular attention to eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, especially adolescent girls, while ensuring the meaningful and effective participation of women and girls in the relevant processes;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Certain forms of violence, exploitation or abuse may be considered as cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment and breaches a number of international human rights treaties. Among these are forced, coerced and otherwise involuntary pregnancy or sterilisation ; as well as any other medical procedure or intervention performed without free and informed consent, including those related to contraception and abortion; the invasive and irreversible surgical practises including psychosurgery, female genital mutilation or surgery or treatment performed on intersex children without their informed consent; the administration of electroshocks, chemical, physical or mechanical restraints; isolation or seclusion.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Girls with disabilities are particularly at risk of harmful practices, which are justified by invoking sociocultural and religious customs and values. For example, girls with disabilities are more likely to die through "mercy killings" than boys with disabilities because their families are unwilling or lack the support to raise a girl with an impairment . Other examples of harmful practices include: infanticide , accusations of "spirit possession" and restrictions in feeding and nutrition. In addition, the marriage of girls with disabilities, especially girls with intellectual disabilities, is justified under the pretext of providing future security, care and finance for her. In turn, child marriage contributes to higher rates of school drop-out as well as early and frequent childbirth. The social isolation, segregation and exploitation of girls with disabilities inside the family, includes: exclusion from family activities, prevention from leaving home, forced unpaid housework and being forbidden from attending school.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 13
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage undermines women's and girls' autonomy and decision-making in all aspects of their lives and also that the empowerment of and investment in women and girls, as well as their meaningful participation in all decisions that affect them, are key factors in breaking the cycle of gender inequality and discrimination, violence and poverty and are critical, inter alia, for sustainable development, peace, security, democracy and inclusive economic growth,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to pursue a comprehensive, culturally sensitive, systematic approach that incorporates a social perspective and is based on human rights and gender-equality principles in providing education and training to families, local community leaders and members of all professions relevant to the protection and empowerment of women and girls in order to increase awareness of and commitment to the elimination of female genital mutilation;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- In many jurisdictions, the criminalization of abortion, "moral crimes" like adultery and extramarital relationships, and witchcraft and sorcery, among others - offences that are aimed at or that solely and disproportionately affect women, girls and persons on the basis of their perceived or actual sexual orientation or gender identity - besides constituting violations of international human rights law in and of themselves are also a significant factor in prison overcrowding, which has a negative impact on all aspects of detainees' lives and gives rise to ill-treatment or torture.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 11
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to ensure access to justice and accountability mechanisms and remedies for the effective implementation and enforcement of laws aimed at preventing and eliminating child, early and forced marriage, including by informing women, girls and boys about their rights under relevant laws, training law enforcement officers, the judiciary and professionals working with women and children and ensuring oversight of the handling of cases of child, early and forced marriage, improving legal infrastructure and removing all barriers to access to legal counselling, assistance and remedies;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of the child 2016, para. 19c
- Paragraph text
- Reaffirms paragraphs 34 to 39 of its resolution 68/147 and paragraphs 47 to 62 of its resolution 62/141 of 18 December 2007 on the elimination of violence against children, condemns all forms of violence against children, and urges all States to implement the measures set out in paragraph 34 of its resolution 68/147 and paragraph 3 of its resolution 69/158 and: (c) To address the gender dimension of all forms of violence against children and incorporate a gender perspective in all policies adopted and actions taken to protect children against all forms of violence and harmful practices, including female genital mutilation, acknowledging that girls and boys face varying risks from different forms of violence at different ages and in different situations, including in schools;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- There is also the myth that intercourse with female persons with albinism can cure infertility, sexually transmitted infections and, in particular, HIV/AIDS. This has led to the rape and forced prostitution of women and girls with albinism, some of whom end up contracting various infections. Cases have been reported of young girls with albinism being prostituted by their family to customers who thereby expect to be cured of HIV/AIDS. It is believed that cases of this sort are underreported owing to various factors, including a pre-existing context of myth-led discrimination against persons with albinism, the stigma of reporting rape and the likelihood of further abuse. Such lack of reporting is bound to aggravate the already oppressed and disenfranchised situation of women and girls with albinism.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 99
- Paragraph text
- The Working Group found that instrumentalization and politicization of women's biological functions in many countries subjects legislation and policies regarding women's and girls' health and safety to patriarchal agendas, especially regarding reproductive and sexual health and mental health. The Working Group found manifestations in all regions of instrumentalization, taboos regarding menstruation and breastfeeding and stereotypes which result in harmful practices such as female genital mutilation or which have a negative impact on women's body image, leading to their seeking invasive cosmetic procedures.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Women and girls seeking reproductive health care in professional settings are often exposed to severe pain and suffering and coerced into or subjected to unwanted, degrading and humiliating procedures and examinations. In some States, such practices include requiring sex workers to undergo weekly gynaecological examinations and blood tests, and forced or coerced pregnancy testing by means of physical examination or urine testing as a precondition for attending schools and public examinations. Virginity testing and the expulsion of pregnant girls from schools, which often result in long-term harmful consequences, constitute forms of discrimination and ill-treatment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 74c
- Paragraph text
- [With regard to harmful practices, the Special Rapporteur calls upon States to:] Implement and enforce uniform laws that prohibit child marriage before the age of 18, with no exceptions on the basis of parental consent or personal status laws; extend the prohibition to cover traditional and religious marriages; provide appropriate assistance to women and girls living in forced marriages, including by helping women leave the marriage with a share of matrimonial assets, custody of children and the right to remarry; and provide support to victims' dependents and members of immediate families;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Violence against women is specifically addressed in target 5.2 on the elimination of all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation. Two indicators are key: the proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age group (5.2.1) and the proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner, in the previous 12 months, by age group and place of occurrence (5.2.2). Another directly relevant target is 5.3 on the elimination of all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation. Two indicators are key for this target: the percentage of women aged 20-24 who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18 (5.3.1) and the percentage of girls and women aged 15-49 who have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting, by age group (5.3.2).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS 2016, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon all governments to enact and intensify the implementation of laws, policies and strategies to eliminate all forms of gender-based violence and discrimination against women and girls in the public and private spheres and harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation and trafficking in persons, and ensure the full engagement of men and boys in order to reduce the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV;
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 12
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Noting with concern also that deep-rooted gender inequalities and stereotypes, harmful practices, perceptions and customs, and discriminatory norms are not only obstacles to the full enjoyment of human rights and the empowerment of all women and girls but are also among the root causes of child, early and forced marriage, and that the persistence of child, early and forced marriage places children, in particular the girl child, at greater risk of being exposed to and encountering various forms of discrimination and violence throughout their lives,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensification of efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls: domestic violence 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing also that domestic violence can encompass but is not limited to the following elements, which can be understood differently in different contexts: battering, sexual abuse of women and girls in the household, incest, dowry-related violence, marital rape, intimate partner violence, femicide, female infanticide, crimes committed against women and girls in the name of so-called "honour", crimes committed in the name of passion, forced sterilization, forced abortion, coercive/forced use of contraception, forced pregnancy, sexual slavery and practices harmful to women and girls such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Renews its request to the Secretary-General that he submit to the General Assembly, at its seventy-third session, an in-depth multidisciplinary report on the root causes of and factors contributing to the practice of female genital mutilation, its prevalence worldwide and its impact on women and girls, including evidence and data, analysis of progress made to date and action-oriented recommendations for eliminating this practice, on the basis of information provided by Member States, relevant actors of the United Nations system working on the issue and other relevant stakeholders.
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Article 5 (a) addresses the elimination of discriminatory stereotypes and practices, which are often more prevalent in rural areas. Rural women and girls are often disadvantaged by harmful practices (see CEDAW/C/GC/31-CRC/C/GC/18, para. 9), such as child and/or forced marriage, polygamy and female genital mutilation, which endanger their health and well-being and may push them to migrate in order to escape such practices, potentially exposing them to other risks. They are also disadvantaged by practices such as the inheritance of ancestral debt, which perpetuates cycles of poverty, and by discriminatory stereotypes and related practices that prevent them from enjoying rights over land, water and natural resources, such as male primogeniture and property grabbing from widows.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- In practice, the choices of women with disabilities, especially women with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities are often ignored, their decisions are often substituted by third parties, including legal representatives, service providers, guardians and family members, thus violating their rights under article 12 . All women with disabilities must be able to exercise their legal capacity by taking their own decisions, with support when desired with regard to medical and/or therapeutic treatment, including decisions on: retaining their fertility, reproductive autonomy, their right to choose the number and spacing of children, to consent and accept a statement of fatherhood, and the right to establish relationships. Restricting or removing legal capacity can facilitate forced interventions, such as: sterilisation, abortion, contraception, female genital mutilation, or surgery, or treatment performed on intersex children without their informed consent and forced detention in institutions .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- During adolescence, gender inequalities become more significant. Manifestations of discrimination, inequality and stereotyping against girls often intensify, leading to more serious violations of their rights, including child and forced marriage, early pregnancy, female genital mutilation, gender-based physical, mental and sexual violence, abuse, exploitation and trafficking. Cultural norms ascribing lower status to girls can increase the likelihood of confinement to the home, lack of access to secondary and tertiary education, limited opportunities for leisure, sport, recreation and income generation, lack of access to cultural life and the arts, burdensome domestic chores and childcare responsibilities. In many countries, girls report lower levels of health and life satisfaction indicators than boys, a difference that gradually increases with age.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Traditional concepts of masculinity and gender norms linked to violence and dominance can compromise boys' rights. These include the imposition of harmful initiation rites, exposure to violence, gangs, coercion into militia, extremist groups and trafficking. The denial of their vulnerability to physical and sexual abuse and exploitation also poses pervasive and significant barriers to boys gaining access to sexual and reproductive health information, goods and services, and a consequent lack of protective services.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- In patriarchal cultures, the preference for sons leads to the prioritization of boys' and men's health before that of women and girls, resulting in discriminatory practices such as female infanticide. This is evident in cultural customs relating to food which cause girls and women, including pregnant and nursing women, to suffer disproportionately from malnutrition.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Also encourages States to develop, support and promote education programmes, including on sexual and reproductive health, that clearly challenge the negative stereotypes and harmful attitudes and practices that sustain female genital mutilation and perpetuate violence and discrimination against women and girls;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The Committee notes that contributions from its half day of general discussion on women and girls with disabilities which took place during its 9th session in April 2013, highlighted a range of topics and identified three main subjects of concern with respect to the protection of their human rights: (1) violence, (2) sexual and reproductive health and rights and (3) discrimination. Furthermore, concluding observations issued by this Committee to date on women with disabilities express concern about: the prevalence of multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination against women with disabilities , on account of their gender, disability and other factors which are not sufficiently addressed in legislation and policies ; the right to life , equal recognition before the law , the persistence of violence against women and girls with disabilities , including sexual violence and abuse , forced sterilization , female genital mutilation , sexual and economic exploitation ; institutionalization , the lack of or insufficient participation of women with disabilities in decision-making processes in public and political life ; the lack of inclusion of a gender perspective in disability policies , the lack of a disability rights perspective in gender policies ; and the lack of or insufficient specific measures to promote the education and employment of women with disabilities .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 14
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing also that raising awareness of the harmful consequences of child, early and forced marriage, including among men and boys, can contribute to promoting social norms that support efforts by girls and their families to end this harmful practice,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Harmful practices are persistent practices and forms of behaviour grounded in discrimination on the basis of, inter alia, sex, gender and age, in addition to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that often involve violence and cause physical or psychological harm or suffering, including immediate or long-term consequences for the victim's dignity, physical and psychosocial integrity and development, health, education and socioeconomic status. Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by harmful practices. Typically justified on the basis of social norms and cultural beliefs, tradition or religion, harmful practices are motivated in part by stereotypes about sex and gender-based roles and rooted in attempts to control individuals' bodies and sexuality. Female genital mutilation, child and forced marriage and honour-based violence are acknowledged as forms of gender-based violence that constitute ill-treatment and torture. Victims seeking justice for violations of their rights as a result of harmful practices often face stigmatization and risk revictimization, harassment and retribution. States must ensure that the rights of women and girls are guaranteed and protected at all stages of the legal processes, inter alia through legal aid, support programmes and witness protection.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 13
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Also urges Governments to promote and protect the human rights of all women and girls, including the right of women, and those girls who have been subjected to child, early and forced marriage, to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, and to adopt and accelerate the implementation of laws, policies and programmes that protect and enable the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including reproductive rights, in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensification of efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls: domestic violence 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage places individuals, in particular girls, at risk of being exposed to and encountering various forms of discrimination and violence, including domestic violence, throughout their lives and constitutes a serious threat to multiple aspects of the physical and psychological health of women and girls, including but not limited to their sexual and reproductive health, significantly increasing the risk of early, frequent and unintended pregnancy, maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity, obstetric fistula and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, while increasing vulnerability to all forms of violence, and that every girl and woman at risk of or affected by child, early and forced marriage must have equal access to affordable quality services such as education, counselling, shelter and other social services, psychological, sexual and reproductive health-care services, medical care and legal assistance,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that all relevant organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, in particular the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), the World Health Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, individually and collectively, take into account the protection and promotion of the rights of women and girls against female genital mutilation in their country programmes, as appropriate and in accordance with national priorities, in order to further strengthen their efforts in this regard;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Also calls upon States to strengthen advocacy and awareness-raising programmes, to mobilize girls and boys to take an active part in developing preventive and elimination programmes to address harmful practices, especially female genital mutilation, and to engage families, local community and religious leaders, educational institutions, the media and civil society and provide increased financial support to efforts at all levels to end discriminatory social norms and practices;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Also urges States to complement punitive measures with awareness-raising and educational activities designed to promote a process of consensus towards the elimination of female genital mutilation, and further urges States to protect and support women and girls who have been subjected to female genital mutilation and those at risk, including by developing social and psychological support services and care and appropriate remedies, and to take measures to improve their health, including sexual and reproductive health, in order to assist women and girls who are subjected to the practice;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- Stresses that the empowerment of women and girls is key to breaking the cycle of discrimination and violence and for the promotion and protection of human rights, including the right to the highest attainable standard of mental and physical health, including sexual and reproductive health, and calls upon States parties to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as well as their commitments to implement the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", and of the special session of the General Assembly on children;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- States parties should take steps to prevent and prohibit child and/or forced marriage among rural women and girls, including through the reform and enforcement of laws prohibiting such practices in rural areas, media campaigns, particularly aimed at raising the awareness of men, the provision of school-based prevention programmes, including comprehensive age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health education, as well as the provision of social and health services for rural married girls and girls at risk of child and/or forced marriage. In addition, States parties should discourage and prohibit the practice of polygamy, which may be more common in rural areas.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Practices and beliefs are different in every culture, but generally menstruation is considered to be something unclean or impure and contact between men and women during menstruation is viewed as something that should be avoided. Girls and women are sometimes not allowed to use the same toilets as men or are barred from certain locations. Girls all over the world grow up with the idea that menstruation is something they should hide and not speak about - an embarrassing event associated with shame. This powerful stigma and taboo surrounding menstruation translates into fear of leaking or staining clothes. Worldwide, women and girls prefer to hide the fact that they are menstruating. Data collected in Senegal shows that, owing to shame, menstrual material, once washed, is mainly dried in secluded, private and dark locations, such as tiled rooms or even under pillows, instead of in direct sunlight, which would reduce the risk of infection by ensuring that pathogens do not grow.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The First African Girls' Summit on Ending Child Marriage was held in Lusaka in November 2015. Hosted by the African Union and the Government of Zambia, the summit gathered Heads of State and Government, ministers responsible for gender and children, United Nations agencies, development partners, civil society organizations and religious and traditional leaders as well as young people who have experienced child marriage. The participants took stock of the progress made to end child marriage across the continent, shared evidence and good practices and renewed their commitment to end child marriage and other harmful practices in Africa.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States to develop policies and regulations to ensure the effective implementation of national legislative frameworks on eliminating discrimination and violence against women and girls, in particular female genital mutilation, and to put in place adequate accountability mechanisms at the national and local levels to monitor adherence to and implementation of those legislative frameworks;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Violence committed by family members against relatives in order to protect the family's "honour" is a common practice around the world. In some communities honour is equated with the regulation of female sexuality and with women's conformity with social norms and traditions. Women, girls, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons are the most common victims of honour-based violence, which targets female sexuality and autonomy and individuals' actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (A/61/122/Add.1 and Corr.1).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- In many cultures, girls are considered adults after their first menstruation and may drop out of school, marry and start having children. Increased knowledge of menstruation by both men and women, combined with strategies to lift social taboos on menstruation, may prevent girls from being considered as adults ready for marriage but, rather, as young adolescents going through a normal phase of their development.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Women fear violence by men in public toilets and open defecation sites, and along the routes leading to both. Some women and girls looking for a place to defecate have reportedly been exposed to rude remarks, brick-throwing, stabbing and rape. Gender-based violence also occurs at places to collect water, bathe and wash clothes. Abuse of boys is reportedly a common and underrecognized phenomenon, and one that receives even less attention, as shame and cultural restrictions or taboos concerning homosexuality deters boys from reporting such abuse.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 2
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recalling its resolutions 70/138 of 17 December 2015 on the girl child and 69/147 of 18 December 2014 on the intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, as well as Human Rights Council resolution 29/8 of 2 July 2015, entitled "Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage", and all other previous resolutions relating to child, early and forced marriage,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 9
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Expressing concern about the continued prevalence of child, early and forced marriage worldwide, including the fact that there are still approximately 15 million girls married every year before they reach 18 years of age and that more than 720 million women and girls alive today were married before their eighteenth birthday,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2016, para. 15
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing further men and boys as strategic partners and allies and that their meaningful engagement can contribute to transforming discriminatory social norms that perpetuate child, early and forced marriage, ending this practice and achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Also urges States to ensure the national implementation of international and regional commitments and obligations undertaken as States parties to various international instruments protecting the full enjoyment of all human rights and the fundamental freedoms of women and girls;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Encourages men and boys to take positive initiatives and to work in partnership with women and girls to combat violence and discriminatory practices against women and girls, in particular female genital mutilation, through networks, peer programmes, information campaigns and training programmes;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that negative discriminatory and stereotypical attitudes and behaviours have direct implications for the status and treatment of women and girls and that such negative stereotypes impede the implementation of legislative and normative frameworks that guarantee gender equality and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned that, despite the increase in national, regional and international efforts and the focus on the elimination of female genital mutilation, the practice continues to persist in all regions of the world and is often on the rise for migrant and refugee women and girls,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to take, within the general framework of integration policies and in consultation with affected communities, effective and specific targeted measures for refugee women and women migrants and their communities in order to protect girls from female genital mutilation, including when the practice occurs outside the country of residence;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Recalling further General Assembly resolution 67/146 of 20 December 2012 on intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilations and all other relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Human Rights Council on measures to eliminate harmful traditional practices that violate the rights of women and girls,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Elimination of female genital mutilation 2016, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Noting that these human rights violations and abuses of the rights of women and girls can jeopardize their full and effective participation in the economic, political, social and cultural development of their country,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Report of the SR on the right to health and Agenda 2030 2016, para. 91
- Paragraph text
- Addressing violence cuts across the Sustainable Development Goals and is critical to the realization of the right to health. The Goals envisage "a world free from fear and violence" and include specific commitments to eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres (target 5.2); to eliminate all harmful practices, including child early and forced marriage and genital mutilation (target 5.3); to significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere (target 16.1); and to end all forms of violence against and torture of children (target 16.2). The Goals also include a commitment to build capacities to prevent violence (target 16.a). In addition, several other Goals address risk factors linked to violence, including ending poverty (Goal 1), ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being (Goal 3), ensuring quality education (Goal 4), addressing inequalities (Goal 10) and making cities and settlements safe (Goal 11). As recognized in the Goals, reducing and eliminating violence is critical to transforming the world into a peaceful and inclusive global community.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to enact, enforce, harmonize and uphold laws and policies aimed at preventing and ending child, early and forced marriage, protecting those at risk and supporting already married women and girls, and to ensure that marriage is entered into only with the informed, free and full consent of the intending spouses and that women have equality with men in all matters pertaining to marriage, divorce, child custody and the economic consequences of marriage and its dissolution;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage remains an impediment not only to the economic, legal, health and social status of women and girls but also to the development of society as a whole, and that the empowerment of and investment in women and girls, the meaningful participation of girls in all decisions that affect them, and women’s full, equal and effective participation at all levels of decision-making are a key factor in breaking the cycle of gender inequality and discrimination, violence and poverty and are critical for, inter alia, sustainable development, peace, security, democracy and inclusive economic growth,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Rights of indigenous women and girls 2015, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- As discussed by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences in her 2007 thematic report, culture-based identity politics can be used to justify violence against women in the name of traditional practices and/or values. Practices commonly carried out in the name of tradition, such as female gender mutilation and child marriage, impact some but not all indigenous communities. The fact that those traditional practices cut across religious, geographical and ethnic characteristics demonstrate that there are multidimensional causal factors and that no one factor attributed to the identity of women makes them vulnerable. Violations suffered by indigenous women and girls must be viewed within the context of the broad spectrum of violations experienced and their specific vulnerabilities as members of indigenous communities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Encourages relevant United Nations entities, regional and subregional organizations, civil society and other relevant actors and human rights mechanisms to continue to collaborate with and support Member States in developing and implementing strategies and policies at the national, regional and international levels to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage, and to support already married girls, adolescents and women;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child have noted that harmful practices affecting women and girls are deeply rooted in social attitudes according to which women and girls are regarded as inferior to men and boys based on stereotyped roles. They highlight the gender dimension to violence and indicate that sex- and gender-based attitudes and stereotypes, power imbalances, inequalities and discrimination perpetuate the widespread existence of practices that often involve violence or coercion. They maintain that the nature and prevalence of these practices vary according to region and culture. These practices cause serious harm to every aspect of the lives of the women and girls who fall victim to them and include incest, female genital mutilation, early and/or forced marriage, so-called "honour crimes", dowry-related violence, neglect of girls, extreme dietary restrictions, virginity tests, servitude, stoning, violent initiation rites, widowhood practices and female infanticide. The obligations set out in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child form the basis for the elaboration of a global strategy to eliminate harmful practices, which should be well defined, rights-based, have local relevance and comprise legal, economic and social support measures combined with proportional political engagement and State responsibility at all levels.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The girl child 2015, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned further that despite its widespread practice, child, early and forced marriage is still underreported, recognizing that this requires further attention and that child, early and forced marriage exposes the girl child to greater risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections, often leads to premature sexual relations, early pregnancy and early childbearing and increases the risk of obstetric fistula and high levels of maternal mortality and morbidity, and furthermore entails complications during pregnancy and childbirth, which often lead to disability, stillbirth and maternal death, particularly for young women and girls, which require appropriate prenatal and postnatal health-care services for mothers, including in the area of skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care, and noting with concern that this reduces girls' opportunities to complete their education, gain comprehensive knowledge, participate in the community or develop employable skills and is likely to have a long-term adverse impact on their employment opportunities, their quality of life and that of their children, and violates and impairs the full enjoyment of their human rights,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Also urges Governments to take measures to support girls and women who have been subjected to child, early and forced marriage, and calls upon States and all relevant actors to strengthen, inter alia, the development, enactment, implementation and monitoring of relevant legislation and protection mechanisms, such as safe shelters, counselling and other support services, as well as empowerment programmes focusing on, inter alia, education, health, livelihood, autonomy and decision-making;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women: Eliminating domestic violence 2015, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to strongly condemn all forms of violence against women and girls, and to refrain from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination, including harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, as set out in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The girl child 2015, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Urges all States to enact, uphold and strictly enforce laws and policies aimed at preventing and ending child, early and forced marriage and protecting those at risk and to ensure that marriage is entered into only with the informed, free and full consent of the intending spouses, to enact and strictly enforce laws concerning the minimum legal age of consent and the minimum age for marriage, to raise the minimum age for marriage, engage all relevant stakeholders, including girls, where necessary, and ensure that these laws are well known, to further develop and implement holistic, comprehensive and coordinated policies, plans of action and programmes and to support already married girls and adolescents and ensure the provision of viable alternatives and institutional support, especially educational opportunities for girls, to ensure the survival, protection, development and advancement of the girl child in order to promote and protect the full enjoyment of her human rights and to ensure equal opportunities for girls, including by making such plans an integral part of her total development process;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage is a harmful practice that violates, abuses and impairs human rights and is linked to and perpetuates other harmful practices and human rights violations and that such violations have a disproportionately negative impact on women and girls, and underscoring the human rights obligations and commitments of States to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and to prevent and eliminate the practice of child, early and forced marriage,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Also urges States to ensure access to justice and accountability mechanisms and remedies for the effective implementation and enforcement of laws aimed at preventing and eliminating child, early and forced marriage, including by informing women and girls about their rights under relevant laws, training law enforcement officers and monitoring how they handle cases of child, early and forced marriage, improving legal infrastructure and removing all barriers to access to legal counselling, assistance and remedies;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women: Eliminating domestic violence 2015, para. 8a
- Paragraph text
- [Calls upon States to take effective action to prevent domestic violence, including by:] Publicly condemning, addressing and penalizing the perpetrators of offences involving physical, sexual and psychological violence and economic deprivation occurring in the family, which encompasses but is not limited to battering, sexual abuse of women and girls in the household, incest, dowry-related violence, marital rape, partner violence, femicide, female infanticide, crimes committed against women and girls in the name of so-called “honour”, crimes committed in the name of passion, practices harmful to women and girls such as child, early and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- In many contexts, States fail to establish and enforce a clear legal hierarchy based on the guarantees of equality and non-discrimination set forth in international human rights law and national legislation, thus helping to maintain patriarchal modes of organization and behaviours. Even when the law is independent of any religious source, it may be strongly influenced by culture, deriving from dominant ideologies linked to religion, traditional attitudes and social norms. Some States adopt national laws and regulations that restrict the rights, power and mobility of women on the basis of essentialist points of view belonging to a particular culture or religion. Conservative religious extremist movements impose strict modesty codes in order to subjugate women and girls in the name of religion, particularly in situations of political transition or conflict. For example, some branches of Islam have reintroduced forced and/or early marriage and some branches of Christianity prevent women from having access to therapeutic abortion. Religious extremism limits women's rights, including their right to health and economic activity, and they are generally subject to harsh sanctions for crimes committed against the patriarchy, such as adultery. At the international level, many States justify their reservations to articles of several human rights conventions, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in the name of preserving their cultures and religions. Human Rights Council resolutions 16/3 on promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms through a better understanding of traditional values of humankind and 26/11 on the protection of the family threaten to undermine international achievements in the field of human rights in the name of cultural and religious diversity.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The girl child 2015, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned also about discrimination against the girl child and the violation of the rights of the girl child, including girls with disabilities, which often result in less access for girls to education, and to quality education, nutrition, including food allocation, and physical and mental health-care services, in girls enjoying fewer of the rights, opportunities and benefits of childhood and adolescence than boys, and in leaving them more vulnerable than boys to the consequences of unprotected and premature sexual relations and often being subjected to various forms of cultural, social, sexual and economic exploitation and violence, abuse, rape, incest, honour-related crimes and harmful practices, such as female infanticide, child, early and forced marriage, prenatal sex selection and female genital mutilation,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The rights of the child 2015, para. 18c
- Paragraph text
- [Reaffirms paragraphs 34 to 39 of its resolution 68/147 and paragraphs 47 to 62 of its resolution 62/141 of 18 December 2007 on the elimination of violence against children, condemns all forms of violence against children, and urges all States to implement the measures set out in paragraph 34 of its resolution 68/147 and paragraph 3 of its resolution 69/158 and:] To address the gender dimension of all forms of violence against children and incorporate a gender perspective in all policies adopted and actions taken to protect children against all forms of violence and harmful practices, including female genital mutilation, acknowledging that girls and boys face varying risks from different forms of violence at different ages and in different situations;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The role of women in the family has generally been under patriarchal control in cultures and religions that subject women and girls to forced and/or early marriage and discrimination in a number of areas of family life, such as consent to enter into marriage, dowry obligations, the right to possess and manage property, sexual relations, requirements regarding modesty and freedom of movement, guardianship and custody of children, divorce and division of matrimonial assets, the punishment of adultery, the right to remarry following dissolution of the marriage or death of the husband, the status of widows and inheritance. In addition, women and girls are generally not treated equally in families with regard to the division of rights and responsibilities. Discrimination against women and girls in the family and in marriage affects all aspects of their lives.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The girl child 2015, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Urges all States to enact and enforce legislation to protect girls from all forms of violence, discrimination, exploitation and harmful practices in all settings, including female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, female genital mutilation, rape, domestic violence, incest, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, child prostitution and child pornography, trafficking and forced migration, forced labour and child, early and forced marriage, and to develop age-appropriate, safe, confidential and disability-accessible programmes and medical, social and psychological support services to assist girls who are subjected to violence and discrimination;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage constitutes a serious threat to multiple aspects of the physical and psychological health of women and girls, including but not limited to their sexual and reproductive health, significantly increasing the risk of early, frequent and unintended pregnancy, maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity, obstetric fistula and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, as well as increasing vulnerability to all forms of violence, and that every girl and woman at risk of or affected by these practices must have equal access to quality services such as education, counselling, shelter and other social services, psychological, sexual and reproductive health-care services and medical care,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States, with the participation of relevant stakeholders, including girls, women, religious and community leaders, civil society and human rights groups, men and boys, and youth organizations to develop and implement holistic, comprehensive and coordinated responses, strategies and policies to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage, and to support already married girls, adolescents and women, including through the strengthening of child protection systems, protection mechanisms, such as safe shelters, access to justice and legal remedies and the sharing of best practices across borders in full compliance with international human rights obligations and commitments;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States and encourages other stakeholders to address social norms, gender stereotypes and harmful practices that contribute to the acceptance and continuation of the practice of child, early and forced marriage, including by raising awareness of its harm to the victims and the cost to society at large and by providing opportunities for discussion among others, within communities, including with the involvement of unmarried girls and already married girls, adolescents and women, religious, tribal and community leaders, men and boys, and families on the benefits of delaying marriage and ensuring that girls receive education;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Rights of indigenous women and girls 2015, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 100 million and 140 million women and girls worldwide have been subjected to female gender mutilation. Female genital mutilation has been documented mainly in Africa, but also in some countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Central and South America. As recognized by WHO, there are no benefits to female genital mutilation; in fact, the procedure can have many negative consequences for women, including infection, complications in childbirth, pain, infertility and cysts, as well as their overall disempowerment within society. There is very little information about the prevalence and drivers of female genital mutilation among indigenous communities, but it is known to take place in some but not all indigenous communities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Rights of indigenous women and girls 2015, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, little disaggregated information is available about the specific dynamics of child marriage in indigenous communities, but it is known to take place in some communities. Much of the literature on child marriage demonstrates a strong link with poverty, therefore, the broader human rights violations of indigenous women and girls are likely to be strong causal factors for child marriage. Child marriage is not only a form of violence, but also a violation of the child's rights to education and family life. Child marriage can also lead to violations of the rights to life and health, as young girls often experience complications with pregnancy and childbirth, which can result in death. In addition, child marriage creates vulnerability to marital rape.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States to promote the meaningful participation and active consultation of children and young people in all issues affecting them, and to create awareness about their rights, including the negative impact of child, early and forced marriage, through safe spaces, forums and support networks that provide girls and boys with information, life skills training and the opportunities to be empowered and become agents of change within their communities;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States and the international community to create an environment in which the well-being of women and girls is ensured by, inter alia, cooperating, supporting and participating in efforts for the eradication of poverty, and reaffirms that investment in women and girls and the respect, protection and fulfilment of their rights are among the most effective ways to end the harmful practice of child, early and forced marriage;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Special consideration is to be given to girls (including the girl child and adolescent girls, where appropriate) because they face specific barriers to gaining access to justice. They often lack the social or legal capacity to make significant decisions about their lives in areas relating to education, health and sexual and reproductive rights. They may be forced into marriage or subjected to other harmful practices and various forms of violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned by the impact of deep-rooted gender inequalities, norms and stereotypes and of harmful practices, perceptions and customs that are obstacles to the full enjoyment of human rights, in particular of women and girls, and are among the primary causes of child, early and forced marriage,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Bearing in mind that, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, approximately 15 million girls are married every year before the age of 18, and more than 700 million women and girls alive today were married before their eighteenth birthday,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Rights of indigenous women and girls 2015, para. 79d
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States] [With regard to violence against indigenous women and girls, Member States should:] Ensure that all forms of violence against women, including female genital mutilation and child marriage, are included as violations within criminal law;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2015, para. 120
- Paragraph text
- In 1995, data from many countries showed that girls experienced discrimination from the earliest stages of life, through their childhood and into adulthood. Owing to violence, sexual abuse and exploitation, harmful attitudes and practices, such as female genital mutilation, son preference and child marriage, many girls do not survive into adulthood. They are neglected and their self-esteem undermined, with the risk of initiating a lifelong downward spiral of deprivation and exclusion.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2015, para. 123
- Paragraph text
- In some communities, certain incidents of violence reflect harmful beliefs towards particularly marginalized girls, including those with disabilities or albinism, who may be accused of witchcraft. As a result, those girls endure stigmatization and are the victims of serious acts of violence, neglect, abandonment, mutilation and murder.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned also that poverty and lack of education are also among the drivers of the practice of child, early and forced marriage, and recalling the fact that child, early and forced marriage is a significant obstacle to access to and/or completion of women’s and girls’ education,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Welcomes the inclusion of a target on eliminating all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, in the outcome document of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, recognizes child, early and forced marriage as a barrier to development and to the full realization of women’s and girls’ human rights, and also recognizes the need to give due consideration to the inclusion of the target in the post-2015 development agenda in order to help to ensure progress towards the elimination of child, early and forced marriage;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2015, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Cooperation with African nations and institutions has been further pursued, including through the support of the Special Representative for the African Union campaign to combat child marriage. Marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the Special Representative joined the African Union, the African Child Policy Forum and UNICEF in the development of the African Report on Violence against Children. The report reviews regional progress on the study on violence against children and recommends an agenda for action to address persisting challenges. It draws on the research initiatives and household surveys undertaken in the region and it will make a significant contribution in to the Conference on the Status of Children's Rights in Africa, and the African Girls' Summit on Ending Child Marriage, both to be held in late 2015.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2015, para. 122
- Paragraph text
- Girls are often exposed to violence and discrimination owing to their gender, young age and powerlessness. They endure the detrimental impact of physical, mental and sexual violence in the home, at school, in the community, in institutional care and in justice institutions. Child trafficking is a crime that is on the rise and the majority of victims are girls. Despite the criminalization of female genital mutilation/cutting in many parts of the world, every year 3 million girls are at risk of enduring that practice and around 14 million girls are forcibly married, often with much older men, and exposed to high risks of sexual abuse and other forms of violence.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage 2015, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing also that raising awareness of the harmful consequences of child, early and forced marriage, including among men and boys, often contributes to promoting social norms that support efforts by girls and their families to delay the age of marriage,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- However, not all forms of marriage deserve recognition. The Working Group calls for the non-recognition of those forms that discriminate against women and/or fail to ensure equality and justice for women, whatever the legal system, religion, custom or tradition. This refers to, among others, early and/or forced marriage, temporary marriage and polygamy. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Human Rights Committee have recommended that States should prohibit polygamy on the grounds that it contravenes women's right to equality with men and can have serious emotional and financial consequences for women and their dependants. However, there are national civil codes that legalize polygamous marriage, early and/or forced marriage and temporary marriage. The Working Group advocates the repeal of these codes. Among the countries that deem such marriages to discriminate against women and girls, some consider them void and others merely voidable. In all cases, the legal solution must protect the rights of women and girls, who remain the victims of these harmful marriages. Their rights to subsistence, to property, including land and inheritance, to a place of residence, to custody of children and to remarry must be guaranteed.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2014, para. 3
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States and the international community to create an environment in which the well-being of women and girls is ensured by, inter alia, cooperating, supporting and participating in efforts for the eradication of extreme poverty, and reaffirms that investment in women and girls and the protection of their rights are among the most effective ways to end the practice of child, early and forced marriage;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2014, para. 7
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recalls the inclusion of a target on eliminating all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage, in the outcome document of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, recognizes child, early and forced marriage as a barrier to development and the full realization of women's and girls' human rights, and recognizes the need to give due consideration to the inclusion of the target in the post-2015 development agenda in order to help to ensure progress towards the elimination of child, early and forced marriage;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2014, para. 8
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Requests the Secretary-General to submit a comprehensive report to the General Assembly, before the end of its seventieth session, on progress towards ending child, early and forced marriage worldwide since the issuance of the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of 2 April 2014, with particular emphasis on high-prevalence countries, best practices for programmes aimed at ending the practice and supporting already married women and girls, gaps in research and implementation and legal reforms and policies related to this matter, using information provided by Member States, United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes, civil society and other relevant stakeholders;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Reaffirming also the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development and their 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-year reviews, as well as the United Nations Millennium Declaration, and the commitments relevant to women and girls made at the 2005 World Summit and reiterated in Assembly resolution 65/1 of 22 September 2010, entitled “Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium Development Goals”,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Further urges States, as appropriate, to promote gender-sensitive, empowering educational processes by reviewing and revising school curricula, educational materials and teacher-training programmes and elaborating policies and programmes of zero tolerance for violence against girls, including female genital mutilations, and to further integrate a comprehensive understanding of the causes and consequences of gender-based violence and discrimination against women and girls into education and training curricula at all levels;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to ensure that the protection and provision of support to women and girls subject to, or at risk of, female genital mutilation are an integral part of policies and programmes that address the practice and to provide women and girls with coordinated, specialized, accessible and quality multisectoral prevention and response, including education, as well as legal, psychological, health-care and social services, provided by qualified personnel, consistent with the guidelines of medical ethics;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts and sharing good practices to effectively eliminate female genital mutilation 2014, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States, the international community and the organizations of the United Nations system to end the medicalization of female genital mutilation, which entails the definition and dissemination of guidelines to medical staff, and to provide, including through clinical guidelines, an adequate response to the chronic health problems suffered by the millions of women and girls who have undergone female genital mutilation and that hinder progress on health in general;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 55f
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions adopt or amend legislation with a view to effectively addressing and eliminating harmful practices. In doing so, they should ensure:] That a minimum legal age of marriage for girls and boys, with or without parental consent, is established at 18 years. When a marriage at an earlier age is allowed in exceptional circumstances, the absolute minimum age must not be below 16 years, the grounds for obtaining permission must be legitimate and strictly defined by law and the marriage must be permitted only by a court of law upon the full, free and informed consent of the child or both children, who must appear in person before the court;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Female genital mutilation, female circumcision or female genital cutting is the practice of partially or wholly removing the external female genitalia or otherwise injuring the female genital organs for non-medical or non-health reasons. In the context of the present joint general recommendation/general comment, it is referred to as female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation is performed in every region and, within some cultures, is a requirement for marriage and believed to be an effective method of controlling the sexuality of women and girls. It may have various immediate and/or long-term health consequences, including severe pain, shock, infections and complications during childbirth (affecting both the mother and the child), long-term gynaecological problems such as fistula, psychological effects and death. The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund estimate that between 100 million and 140 million girls and women worldwide have been subjected to a type of female genital mutilation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Child marriage, also referred to as early marriage, is any marriage where at least one of the parties is under 18 years of age. The overwhelming majority of child marriages, both formal and informal, involve girls, although at times their spouses are also under 18 years of age. A child marriage is considered to be a form of forced marriage, given that one and/or both parties have not expressed full, free and informed consent. As a matter of respecting the child's evolving capacities and autonomy in making decisions that affect her or his life, a marriage of a mature, capable child below 18 years of age may be allowed in exceptional circumstances, provided that the child is at least 16 years of age and that such decisions are made by a judge based on legitimate exceptional grounds defined by law and on the evidence of maturity, without deference to culture and tradition.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- In some contexts, children are betrothed or married very young and, in many cases, young girls are forced to marry a man who may be decades older. In 2012, the United Nations Children's Fund reported that almost 400 million women between 20 and 49 years of age around the world had been married or had entered into a union before reaching 18 years of age. The Committees have therefore been paying particular attention to cases in which girls have been married against their full, free and informed consent, such as when they have been married too young to be physically and psychologically ready for adult life or to make conscious and informed decisions and thus not ready to consent to marriage. Other examples include cases in which guardians have the legal authority to consent to marriage of girls in accordance with customary or statutory law and in which girls are thus married contrary to the right to freely enter into marriage.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Child marriage is often accompanied by early and frequent pregnancy and childbirth, resulting in higher than average maternal morbidity and mortality rates. Pregnancy-related deaths are the leading cause of mortality for girls between 15 and 19 years of age, whether married or unmarried, around the world. Infant mortality among the children of very young mothers is higher (sometimes as much as two times higher) than among those of older mothers. In cases of child and/or forced marriage, in particular where the husband is significantly older than the wife, and where girls have limited education, the girls generally have limited decision-making power in relation to their own lives. Child marriage also contributes to higher rates of school dropout, especially among girls, forced exclusion from school and an increased risk of domestic violence, in addition to limiting the enjoyment of the right to freedom of movement.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- One of the first steps in combating harmful practices is through prevention. Both Committees have underlined that prevention can be best achieved through a rights-based approach to changing social and cultural norms, empowering women and girls, building the capacity of all relevant professionals who are in regular contact with victims, potential victims and perpetrators of harmful practices at all levels and raising awareness of the causes and consequences of harmful practices, including through dialogue with relevant stakeholders.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women as a barrier to the effective realization of all human rights 2014, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Violence against women impairs and nullifies the right of women and girls to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Gender-based violence, such as intimate partner violence, sexual violence, female genital mutilation or other harmful traditional practices, forced and child marriage or cohabitation, gender-related killings, trafficking, infanticide and deliberate neglect of girls, have a severe impact on women's and girls' physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health. As stated by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, violence against women puts women's health and lives at risk. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights notes that the right to health includes both freedoms and entitlements, including the right to control one's health and body, inclusive of sexual and reproductive freedom, and the right to be free from interference, such as the right to be free from non-consensual medical treatment and experimentation (E/C.12/2000/4, para. 8).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The best interests of the child and the protection of the rights of girls and women should always be taken into consideration and the necessary conditions must be in place to enable them to express their point of view and ensure that their opinions are given due weight. Careful consideration should also be given to the potential short-term and long-term impact on children or women of the dissolution of child and/or forced marriages and the return of dowry payments and bride prices.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- The Committees acknowledge that harmful practices affect adult women, both directly and/or owing to the long-term impact of practices to which they were subjected as girls. The present joint general recommendation/general comment therefore further elaborates on the obligations of States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women with regard to the relevant provisions for the elimination of harmful practices that affect the rights of women.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2014, para. 15
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage constitutes a serious threat to multiple aspects of the physical and psychological health of women and girls, including but not limited to their sexual and reproductive health, significantly increasing the risk of early, frequent and unintended pregnancy, maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity, obstetric fistula and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, as well as increasing vulnerability to all forms of violence, and that every girl and woman at risk of or affected by these practices must have equal access to quality services such as education, counselling, shelter and other social services, psychological, sexual and reproductive health-care services and medical care,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls 2014, para. 42m
- Paragraph text
- [The Commission urges Governments, at all levels [...] to take the following actions:] [Realizing women's and girls' full enjoyment of all human rights]: Eliminate all harmful practices, including child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, by reviewing, adopting, enacting and enforcing laws and regulations that prohibit such practices, creating awareness around their harmful health consequences and generating social support for the enforcement of these laws;
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The efforts to combat harmful practices notwithstanding, the overall number of women and girls affected remains extremely high and may be increasing, including, for example, in conflict situations and as a result of technological developments such as the widespread use of social media. Through the examination of State parties' reports, the Committees have noted that there is often continued adherence to harmful practices by members of practising communities who have moved to destination countries through migration or to seek asylum. Social norms and cultural beliefs supporting such harmful practices persist and are at times emphasized by a community in an attempt to preserve its cultural identity in a new environment, in particular in destination countries where gender roles provide women and girls with greater personal freedom.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The causes of harmful practices are multidimensional and include stereotyped sex- and gender-based roles, the presumed superiority or inferiority of either of the sexes, attempts to exert control over the bodies and sexuality of women and girls, social inequalities and the prevalence of male-dominated power structures. Efforts to change the practices must address those underlying systemic and structural causes of traditional, re-emerging and emerging harmful practices, empower girls and women and boys and men to contribute to the transformation of traditional cultural attitudes that condone harmful practices, act as agents of such change and strengthen the capacity of communities to support such processes.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 73d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Conduct specialized awareness and training programmes for health-care providers working with immigrant communities to address the unique health-care needs of children and women who have undergone female genital mutilation or other harmful practices and provide specialized training also for professionals within child welfare services and services focused on the rights of women and the education and police and justice sectors, politicians and media personnel working with migrant girls and women.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- The most effective efforts are inclusive and engage relevant stakeholders at all levels, especially girls and women from affected communities and boys and men. Moreover, those efforts require the active participation and support of local leaders, including through the allocation of adequate resources. Establishing or strengthening existing partnerships with relevant stakeholders, institutions, organizations and social networks (religious and traditional leaders, practitioners and civil society) can help to build bridges between constituencies.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- One strategy associated with the engagement of men and boys is to appeal to the idea that women deserve respect as mothers, sisters, wives and so on. Emphasizing personal relationships is said to make it easier to understand the consequences of violence against women. This is also seen as an effective strategy in overtly patriarchal societies, in which calls to consider women as rights-bearing individuals, irrespective of their marital status, are considered too radical to attract support, even among women themselves. This implicit suggestion thus distorts the issue of women as autonomous individuals deserving of respect, and renders regard for the rights of women contingent on their status in the private sphere, which further reinforces the public/private dichotomy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon the international community, the relevant United Nations entities and civil society and international financial institutions to continue to actively support, through the allocation of increased financial resources and technical assistance, targeted comprehensive programmes that address the needs and priorities of women and girls at risk of or subjected to female genital mutilations;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Contrary to their obligations under both Conventions, many States parties maintain legal provisions that justify, allow or lead to harmful practices, such as legislation that allows for child marriage, provides the defence of so-called honour as an exculpatory or mitigating factor for crimes committed against girls and women or enables a perpetrator of rape and/or other sexual crimes to avoid sanctions by marrying the victim.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 81b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Ensure that awareness-raising programmes provide accurate information and clear and unified messages from trusted sources about the negative impact of harmful practices on women, children, in particular girls, their families and society at large. Such programmes should include social media, the Internet and community communication and dissemination tools;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Many other practices having been identified as harmful practices are all strongly connected to and reinforce socially constructed gender roles and systems of patriarchal power relations and sometimes reflect negative perceptions of or discriminatory beliefs regarding certain disadvantaged groups of women and children, including individuals with disabilities or albinism. The practices include, but are not limited to, neglect of girls (linked to the preferential care and treatment of boys), extreme dietary restrictions, including during pregnancy (force-feeding, food taboos), virginity testing and related practices, binding, scarring, branding/infliction of tribal marks, corporal punishment, stoning, violent initiation rites, widowhood practices, accusations of witchcraft, infanticide and incest. They also include body modifications that are performed for the purpose of beauty or marriageability of girls and women (such as fattening, isolation, the use of lip discs and neck elongation with neck rings) or in an attempt to protect girls from early pregnancy or from being subjected to sexual harassment and violence (such as breast ironing). In addition, many women and children increasingly undergo medical treatment and/or plastic surgery to comply with social norms of the body, rather than for medical or health reasons, and many are also pressured to be fashionably thin, which has resulted in an epidemic of eating and health disorders.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions ensure that any efforts undertaken to tackle harmful practices and to challenge and change underlying social norms are holistic, community based and founded on a rights-based approach that includes the active participation of all relevant stakeholders, especially women and girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2014, para. 2
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States, with the participation of relevant stakeholders, including girls, religious and community leaders, civil society, women's and human rights groups, men and boys and youth organizations, to develop and implement holistic, comprehensive and coordinated responses and strategies to eliminate child, early and forced marriage and to support already married girls, adolescents and women, including through the strengthening of child protection systems, protection mechanisms such as safe shelters, access to justice and the sharing of best practices across borders;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Also calls upon States to develop unified methods and standards for the collection of data on all forms of discrimination and violence against girls, especially forms that are underdocumented, such as female genital mutilations, to develop additional indicators so as to effectively measure progress in eliminating the practice and to reinforce the sharing of good practices relating to the prevention and the abandonment of the practice at the subregional and regional levels;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States to develop, support and implement comprehensive and integrated strategies for the prevention of female genital mutilations, including the training of social workers, medical personnel, community and religious leaders and relevant professionals, and to ensure that they provide competent, supportive services and care to women and girls who are at risk of or who have undergone female genital mutilations and encourage them to report to the appropriate authorities cases in which they believe women or girls are at risk;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Recalling its resolution 68/309 of 10 September 2014, on the report of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, in which it decided that the proposal of the Open Working Group contained in the report shall be the main basis for integrating sustainable development goals into the post-2015 development agenda, while recognizing that other inputs will also be considered, in the intergovernmental negotiation process at the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly, and noting that the report integrates the importance of the elimination of all harmful practices to women and girls, including female genital mutilation,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States to place a stronger focus on the development of comprehensive prevention strategies, including the enhancement of educational campaigns, awareness-raising and formal, non-formal and informal education and training in order to promote the direct engagement of girls and boys, women and men and to ensure that all key actors, Government officials, including law enforcement and judicial personnel, immigration officials, health-care providers, civil society, community and religious leaders, teachers, employers, media professionals and those directly working with girls, as well as parents, families and communities, work to eliminate attitudes and harmful practices, in particular all forms of female genital mutilations, that negatively affect women and girls;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts and sharing good practices to effectively eliminate female genital mutilation 2014, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Reaffirming that female genital mutilation is a form of discrimination, an act of violence against women and girls and a harmful practice that constitutes a serious threat to their health, including their psychological, sexual and reproductive health, which can increase their vulnerability to HIV and may have adverse obstetric and prenatal outcomes as well as fatal consequences for the mother and the newborn, and that the abandonment of this harmful practice can be achieved as a result of a comprehensive movement that involves all public and private stakeholders in society, including girls and boys, women and men,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Infants
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts and sharing good practices to effectively eliminate female genital mutilation 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Further urges States to develop and implement, at the national level, policies, programmes, action plans and national legislation for the elimination of female genital mutilation, based on integrated multisectoral, coordinated and collective approaches at all levels, taking into account the empowerment of former practitioners, the principles of human rights, equality between women and men and non-discrimination, to ensure that former practitioners abstain from resuming the exercise of this practice, and in general taking into account the issue of respect for the basic human rights of women and girls, while also working together with religious and traditional leaders;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The best interests of the child and the protection of the rights of girls and women should always be taken into consideration and the necessary conditions must be in place to enable them to express their point of view and ensure that their opinions are given due weight. Careful consideration should also be given to the potential short-term and long-term impact on children or women of the dissolution of child and/or forced marriages and the return of dowry payments and bride prices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- The most effective efforts are inclusive and engage relevant stakeholders at all levels, especially girls and women from affected communities and boys and men. Moreover, those efforts require the active participation and support of local leaders, including through the allocation of adequate resources. Establishing or strengthening existing partnerships with relevant stakeholders, institutions, organizations and social networks (religious and traditional leaders, practitioners and civil society) can help to build bridges between constituencies.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls 2014, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The Commission welcomes international momentum to address the issue of child, early and forced marriage. The Commission recognizes that child, early and forced marriage is a harmful practice, and notes that its continued prevalence, among other factors, has slowed the achievement of several of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls.
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right of the child to freedom of expression 2014, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- In India, members of the Adolescent Girls' Clubs against Child Marriage network help to persuade families not to marry their daughters off at a young age by educating people about the harmful consequences of early marriage. They offer a lifeline not only to girls who want to resist family pressure, but also to parents afraid that going against gender-based expectations will leave their daughters ostracized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Contrary to their obligations under both Conventions, many States parties maintain legal provisions that justify, allow or lead to harmful practices, such as legislation that allows for child marriage, provides the defence of so-called honour as an exculpatory or mitigating factor for crimes committed against girls and women or enables a perpetrator of rape and/or other sexual crimes to avoid sanctions by marrying the victim.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, the Committees recognize that boys are also the victims of violence, harmful practices and bias and that their rights must be addressed for their protection and to prevent gender-based violence and the perpetuation of bias and gender inequality later in their lives. Accordingly, reference is made herein to the obligations of States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding harmful practices stemming from discrimination that affect boys' enjoyment of their rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 81b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Ensure that awareness-raising programmes provide accurate information and clear and unified messages from trusted sources about the negative impact of harmful practices on women, children, in particular girls, their families and society at large. Such programmes should include social media, the Internet and community communication and dissemination tools;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to take, within the general framework of integration policies and in consultation with affected communities, effective and specific targeted measures for refugee women and women migrants and their communities in order to protect girls from female genital mutilations, including when the practice occurs outside the country of residence;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2014, para. 6
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Encourages relevant United Nations entities and agencies to continue to collaborate with and support Member States in developing and implementing strategies and policies at the national, regional and international levels to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage, as well as to support already married girls, adolescents and women;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2014, para. 8
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned about the continued prevalence of child, early and forced marriage worldwide, including the fact that approximately 15 million girls are married every year before they reach 18 years of age and that more than 700 million women and girls alive today were married before their eighteenth birthday,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The rights of the child 2014, para. 48d
- Paragraph text
- [Calls upon all States to include the relevant provisions to protect children from discrimination and overcome inequalities and, in particular:] To take all necessary and effective measures to prevent and eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls and all forms of violence, including female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, rape, sexual abuse, forced sterilization and harmful traditional or customary practices, including female genital mutilation and child, early and forced marriage, by enacting and enforcing legislation and, where appropriate, by formulating comprehensive, multidisciplinary and coordinated national plans, programmes or strategies to protect girls, as well as by promoting awareness-raising and social mobilization initiatives for the protection of their rights;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- Stresses that the empowerment of women and girls is key to breaking the cycle of discrimination and violence and for the promotion and protection of human rights, including the right to the highest attainable standard of mental and physical health, including sexual and reproductive health, and calls upon States parties to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as well as their commitments to implement the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, and of the special session of the Assembly on children;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Also urges States to complement punitive measures with awareness-raising and educational activities designed to promote a process of consensus towards the elimination of female genital mutilations, and further urges States to protect and support women and girls who have been subjected to female genital mutilations and those at risk, including by developing social and psychological support services and care, and to explore other remedies, as appropriate, and take measures to improve their health, including sexual and reproductive health, in order to assist women and girls who are subjected to the practice;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls 2014, para. 42d
- Paragraph text
- [The Commission urges Governments, at all levels [...] to take the following actions:] [Realizing women's and girls' full enjoyment of all human rights]: Implement concrete and long-term measures to transform discriminatory social norms and gender stereotypes, including those that limit women's roles to being mothers and caregivers, and eliminate harmful practices including, inter alia, female genital mutilation and honour crimes, in order to achieve gender equality and women's and girls' empowerment and the full realization of the human rights of women and girls;
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Assessment of the status of implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development 2014, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Expresses deep concern about the pervasiveness of gender-based violence, in particular violence against women and girls, and reiterates the need to further intensify efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls and harmful practices, including child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, and recognizes that violence against women and girls is one of the obstacles to achieving the empowerment of women and that women's poverty and lack of political, social and economic empowerment, as well as their marginalization, may result from their exclusion from social policies for and the benefits of sustainable development and can place them at increased risk of violence;
- Body
- Commission on Population and Development
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Child marriage, also referred to as early marriage, is any marriage where at least one of the parties is under 18 years of age. The overwhelming majority of child marriages, both formal and informal, involve girls, although at times their spouses are also under 18 years of age. A child marriage is considered to be a form of forced marriage, given that one and/or both parties have not expressed full, free and informed consent. As a matter of respecting the child's evolving capacities and autonomy in making decisions that affect her or his life, a marriage of a mature, capable child below 18 years of age may be allowed in exceptional circumstances, provided that the child is at least 16 years of age and that such decisions are made by a judge based on legitimate exceptional grounds defined by law and on the evidence of maturity, without deference to culture and tradition.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- When a woman or a girl who was subjected to or refused to undergo a practice leaves her family or community to seek refuge, her decision to return must be supported by adequate national protection mechanisms. In assisting her in making this free and informed choice, the mechanisms are required to ensure her safe return and reintegration based on the principle of her best interest, including avoiding revictimization. Such situations require close follow-up and monitoring to ensure that victims are protected and enjoy their rights in the short term and the long term.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 73d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Conduct specialized awareness and training programmes for health-care providers working with immigrant communities to address the unique health-care needs of children and women who have undergone female genital mutilation or other harmful practices and provide specialized training also for professionals within child welfare services and services focused on the rights of women and the education and police and justice sectors, politicians and media personnel working with migrant girls and women.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child contain legally binding obligations that relate both in general and specifically to the elimination of harmful practices. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child have consistently drawn attention to those practices affecting women and children, primarily girls, in the execution of their monitoring mandates. It is by virtue of that overlapping mandate and the shared commitment to prevent, respond to and eliminate harmful practices, wherever and in whichever form they occur, that the Committees decided to develop the present joint general recommendation/general comment.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Crimes committed in the name of so-called honour are acts of violence that are disproportionately, although not exclusively, committed against girls and women because family members consider that some suspected, perceived or actual behaviour will bring dishonour to the family or community. Such forms of behaviour include entering into sexual relations before marriage, refusing to agree to an arranged marriage, entering into a marriage without parental consent, committing adultery, seeking divorce, dressing in a way that is viewed as unacceptable to the community, working outside the home or generally failing to conform to stereotyped gender roles. Crimes in the name of so-called honour may also be committed against girls and women because they have been victims of sexual violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- When a woman or a girl who was subjected to or refused to undergo a practice leaves her family or community to seek refuge, her decision to return must be supported by adequate national protection mechanisms. In assisting her in making this free and informed choice, the mechanisms are required to ensure her safe return and reintegration based on the principle of her best interest, including avoiding revictimization. Such situations require close follow-up and monitoring to ensure that victims are protected and enjoy their rights in the short term and the long term.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- Victims seeking justice for violations of their rights as a result of harmful practices often face stigmatization, a risk of revictimization, harassment and possible retribution. Steps must therefore be taken to ensure that the rights of girls and women are protected throughout the legal process, in accordance with articles 2 (c) and 15 (2) and (3) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and that children are enabled to effectively engage in court proceedings as part of their right to be heard under article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- In States parties in which the prevalence of harmful practices is primarily limited to immigrant communities, health-care providers, teachers and childcare professionals, social workers, police officers, migration officials and the justice sector must be sensitized and trained in how to identify girls and women who have been, or are at risk of being, subjected to harmful practices and which steps can and should be taken to protect them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- In States parties in which the prevalence of harmful practices is primarily limited to immigrant communities, health-care providers, teachers and childcare professionals, social workers, police officers, migration officials and the justice sector must be sensitized and trained in how to identify girls and women who have been, or are at risk of being, subjected to harmful practices and which steps can and should be taken to protect them.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Reflection on a 6-year tenure as Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Child marriage remains widespread in many countries, despite the adoption of domestic legal frameworks forbidding it. Child marriage is rooted in unequal gender status and power relations in society. In many cases, it can be regarded as a form of sale of children. The requirement to provide a dowry for younger girls can be an incentive for parents to arrange to marry their daughters at an early age. Child marriage can be used as a means to settle family debts or provide economic security to families.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2014, para. 7
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage is a harmful practice that violates, abuses and impairs human rights and is linked to and perpetuates other harmful practices and human rights violations and that such violations have a disproportionately negative impact on women and girls, and underscoring the human rights obligations and commitments of States to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and to prevent and eliminate the practice of child, early and forced marriage,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Reaffirming that female genital mutilations are a harmful practice, constituting a serious threat to the health of women and girls, including their psychological, sexual and reproductive health, increasing their vulnerability to HIV and possibly having adverse obstetric and prenatal outcomes, as well as fatal consequences for the mother and the newborn, and that the abandonment of this harmful practice can be achieved as a result of a comprehensive movement that involves all public and private stakeholders in society, including girls and boys, women and men,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that all relevant organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, in particular the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), the World Health Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, individually and collectively, take into account the protection and promotion of the rights of women and girls against female genital mutilations in their country programmes, as appropriate and in accordance with national priorities, in order to further strengthen their efforts in this regard;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Renews its request to the Secretary-General that he submit to the General Assembly, at its seventy-first session, an in-depth multidisciplinary report on the root causes of and factors contributing to the practice of female genital mutilations, its prevalence worldwide and its impact on women and girls, including evidence and data, analysis of progress made to date and action-oriented recommendations for eliminating this practice on the basis of information provided by Member States, relevant actors of the United Nations system working on the issue and other relevant stakeholders.
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Also calls upon States to strengthen advocacy and awareness-raising programmes, to mobilize girls and boys to take an active part in developing preventive and elimination programmes to address harmful practices, especially female genital mutilations, and to engage local community and religious leaders, educational institutions, the media and families and provide increased financial support to efforts at all levels to end discriminatory social norms and practices;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS 2014, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Also urges Governments to strengthen, implement and enforce legal, policy, administrative and other measures for preventing, eliminating and addressing the causes and consequences of all forms of violence against women and girls, including harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation, child, early and forced marriage, domestic violence, violence at work, verbal and physical abuse, rape, including marital rape, and other forms of sexual violence and coerced sexual activity, battering and trafficking in women and girls, and to ensure that linkages between violence against women and HIV are addressed as an integral part of the national HIV and AIDS response;
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child contain legally binding obligations that relate both in general and specifically to the elimination of harmful practices. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child have consistently drawn attention to those practices affecting women and children, primarily girls, in the execution of their monitoring mandates. It is by virtue of that overlapping mandate and the shared commitment to prevent, respond to and eliminate harmful practices, wherever and in whichever form they occur, that the Committees decided to develop the present joint general recommendation/general comment.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- The Committees acknowledge that harmful practices affect adult women, both directly and/or owing to the long-term impact of practices to which they were subjected as girls. The present joint general recommendation/general comment therefore further elaborates on the obligations of States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women with regard to the relevant provisions for the elimination of harmful practices that affect the rights of women.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- One of the first steps in combating harmful practices is through prevention. Both Committees have underlined that prevention can be best achieved through a rights-based approach to changing social and cultural norms, empowering women and girls, building the capacity of all relevant professionals who are in regular contact with victims, potential victims and perpetrators of harmful practices at all levels and raising awareness of the causes and consequences of harmful practices, including through dialogue with relevant stakeholders.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women as a barrier to the effective realization of all human rights 2014, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The right to education is affected by violence, including family violence and abuse, sexual violence at school, early and forced marriage, human trafficking and harmful traditional practices - which all prevent women and girls from realizing their right to education. Sexual harassment at school has negative physical and emotional effects and also results in decreased productivity, absenteeism from school, difficulty concentrating, declining academic performance or dropping out from school, often after becoming pregnant. As recognized by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 24/23, child, early and forced marriage prevents individuals from living their lives free from all forms of violence and has adverse consequences on the enjoyment of human rights, such as the right to education (see also A/HRC/21/41, para. 74). Girls who enter into early marriage often leave school to assume the responsibilities of caring for their spouse and home and to raise a family. This, in turn, limits young women's economic opportunities and independence and places them at greater risk of domestic violence than married women who are older and more educated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women as a barrier to the effective realization of all human rights 2014, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- One strategy associated with the engagement of men and boys is to appeal to the idea that women deserve respect as mothers, sisters, wives and so on. Emphasizing personal relationships is said to make it easier to understand the consequences of violence against women. This is also seen as an effective strategy in overtly patriarchal societies, in which calls to consider women as rights-bearing individuals, irrespective of their marital status, are considered too radical to attract support, even among women themselves. This implicit suggestion thus distorts the issue of women as autonomous individuals deserving respect and renders regard for the rights of women contingent on their status in the private sphere, which further reinforces the public-private dichotomy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Many other practices having been identified as harmful practices are all strongly connected to and reinforce socially constructed gender roles and systems of patriarchal power relations and sometimes reflect negative perceptions of or discriminatory beliefs regarding certain disadvantaged groups of women and children, including individuals with disabilities or albinism. The practices include, but are not limited to, neglect of girls (linked to the preferential care and treatment of boys), extreme dietary restrictions, including during pregnancy (force-feeding, food taboos), virginity testing and related practices, binding, scarring, branding/infliction of tribal marks, corporal punishment, stoning, violent initiation rites, widowhood practices, accusations of witchcraft, infanticide and incest. They also include body modifications that are performed for the purpose of beauty or marriageability of girls and women (such as fattening, isolation, the use of lip discs and neck elongation with neck rings) or in an attempt to protect girls from early pregnancy or from being subjected to sexual harassment and violence (such as breast ironing). In addition, many women and children increasingly undergo medical treatment and/or plastic surgery to comply with social norms of the body, rather than for medical or health reasons, and many are also pressured to be fashionably thin, which has resulted in an epidemic of eating and health disorders.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The payment of dowries and bride prices, which varies among practising communities, may increase the vulnerability of women and girls to violence and to other harmful practices. The husband or his family members may engage in acts of physical or psychological violence, including murder, burning and acid attacks, for failure to fulfil expectations regarding the payment of a dowry or its size. In some cases, families will agree to the temporary "marriage" of their daughter in exchange for financial gains, also referred to as a contractual marriage, which is a form of trafficking in human beings. States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography have explicit obligations with regard to child and/or forced marriages that include dowry payments or bride prices because they could constitute a sale of children as defined in article 2 (a) of the Protocol. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has repeatedly stressed that allowing marriage to be arranged by such payment or preferment violates the right to freely choose a spouse and has in its general recommendation No. 29 outlined that such practice should not be required for a marriage to be valid and that such agreements should not be recognized by a State party as enforceable.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- National protection systems or, in their absence, traditional structures should be mandated to be child friendly and gender sensitive and adequately resourced to provide all necessary protection services to women and girls who face a high risk of being subjected to violence, including girls running away to avoid being subjected to female genital mutilation, forced marriage or crimes committed in the name of so-called honour. Consideration should be given to the establishment of an easy-to-remember, free, around-the-clock helpline that is available and known nationwide. Appropriate safety and security measures for victims must be available, including specifically designed temporary shelters or specialized services within shelters for victims of violence. Given that perpetrators of harmful practices are often the spouse of the victim, a family member or a member of the victim's community, protective services should seek to relocate victims outside their immediate community if there is reason to believe that they may be unsafe. Unsupervised visits must be avoided, especially when the issue may be considered one of so-called honour. Psychosocial support must also be available to treat the immediate and long-term psychological trauma of victims, which may include post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts and sharing good practices to effectively eliminate female genital mutilation 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Recalling further all relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Human Rights Council concerning measures with a view to eliminating harmful traditional practices prejudicial to the human rights of women and girls,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts and sharing good practices to effectively eliminate female genital mutilation 2014, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Also urges States to work for better dissemination and implementation of their relevant international human rights obligations and commitments, particularly those relating to the rights of women and girls, including by using outreach tools;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts and sharing good practices to effectively eliminate female genital mutilation 2014, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to condemn all harmful practices that affect women and girls, in particular female genital mutilation, whether committed within or outside a medical institution;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- National protection systems or, in their absence, traditional structures should be mandated to be child friendly and gender sensitive and adequately resourced to provide all necessary protection services to women and girls who face a high risk of being subjected to violence, including girls running away to avoid being subjected to female genital mutilation, forced marriage or crimes committed in the name of so-called honour. Consideration should be given to the establishment of an easy-to-remember, free, around-the-clock helpline that is available and known nationwide. Appropriate safety and security measures for victims must be available, including specifically designed temporary shelters or specialized services within shelters for victims of violence. Given that perpetrators of harmful practices are often the spouse of the victim, a family member or a member of the victim's community, protective services should seek to relocate victims outside their immediate community if there is reason to believe that they may be unsafe. Unsupervised visits must be avoided, especially when the issue may be considered one of so-called honour. Psychosocial support must also be available to treat the immediate and long-term psychological trauma of victims, which may include post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 69f
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Engage men and boys in creating an enabling environment that supports the empowerment of women and girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2014, para. 2
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recalling its resolutions 66/140 of 19 December 2011 and 68/146 of 18 December 2013 on the girl child and 67/144 of 20 December 2012 on the intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women, as well as Human Rights Council resolution 24/23 of 27 September 2013, entitled “Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage: challenges, achievements, best practices and implementation gaps”, and all other previous resolutions relating to child, early and forced marriage,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Noting with disappointment, in this regard, the continuing need for the information requested by the General Assembly in its resolution 67/146, which was not provided, concerning the root causes of and factors contributing to the practice of female genital mutilations, its prevalence worldwide and its impact on women and girls, including evidence and data, analysis of progress made to date and action-oriented recommendations for eliminating this practice on the basis of information provided by Member States, relevant actors of the United Nations system working on the issue and other relevant stakeholders,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls 2014, para. 20s
- Paragraph text
- [Urges States to continue to develop their national strategies, translating them into concrete programmes and actions and a more systematic, comprehensive, multisectoral and sustained approach, aimed at eliminating all forms of violence against women, including by achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and keeping in view the responsibility of States to exercise due diligence to prevent, protect against and investigate all acts of violence against women, by, for example:] Ensuring also that the appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures are in place to eliminate the occurrence of child, early and forced marriages and female genital mutilation and to provide information regarding the harm associated with these practices;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts and sharing good practices to effectively eliminate female genital mutilation 2014, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Reaffirming the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, the programme of action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the programme of action of the World Summit for Social Development and their five-, ten- and fifteen-year reviews, and the United Nations Millennium Declaration and the commitments relevant to women and girls made at the 2005 World Summit and reiterated by the General Assembly in its resolution 65/1 of 22 September 2010 entitled “Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium Development Goals”,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Concerned further that women and girls are physiologically more vulnerable to HIV, especially at an earlier age, than men and boys, and that this is increased by violence against women, girls and adolescents, sexual exploitation, including commercial sexual exploitation, premature and coerced sexual relations, harmful practices, such as child, early and force marriage, female genital mutilation, as well as an imbalance in the power dynamic between women and men, and unequal legal, economic and social status, including poverty,
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, the Committees recognize that boys are also the victims of violence, harmful practices and bias and that their rights must be addressed for their protection and to prevent gender-based violence and the perpetuation of bias and gender inequality later in their lives. Accordingly, reference is made herein to the obligations of States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding harmful practices stemming from discrimination that affect boys' enjoyment of their rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The causes of harmful practices are multidimensional and include stereotyped sex- and gender-based roles, the presumed superiority or inferiority of either of the sexes, attempts to exert control over the bodies and sexuality of women and girls, social inequalities and the prevalence of male-dominated power structures. Efforts to change the practices must address those underlying systemic and structural causes of traditional, re-emerging and emerging harmful practices, empower girls and women and boys and men to contribute to the transformation of traditional cultural attitudes that condone harmful practices, act as agents of such change and strengthen the capacity of communities to support such processes.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The efforts to combat harmful practices notwithstanding, the overall number of women and girls affected remains extremely high and may be increasing, including, for example, in conflict situations and as a result of technological developments such as the widespread use of social media. Through the examination of State parties' reports, the Committees have noted that there is often continued adherence to harmful practices by members of practising communities who have moved to destination countries through migration or to seek asylum. Social norms and cultural beliefs supporting such harmful practices persist and are at times emphasized by a community in an attempt to preserve its cultural identity in a new environment, in particular in destination countries where gender roles provide women and girls with greater personal freedom.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Female genital mutilation, female circumcision or female genital cutting is the practice of partially or wholly removing the external female genitalia or otherwise injuring the female genital organs for non-medical or non-health reasons. In the context of the present joint general recommendation/general comment, it is referred to as female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation is performed in every region and, within some cultures, is a requirement for marriage and believed to be an effective method of controlling the sexuality of women and girls. It may have various immediate and/or long-term health consequences, including severe pain, shock, infections and complications during childbirth (affecting both the mother and the child), long-term gynaecological problems such as fistula, psychological effects and death. The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund estimate that between 100 million and 140 million girls and women worldwide have been subjected to a type of female genital mutilation.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- In some contexts, children are betrothed or married very young and, in many cases, young girls are forced to marry a man who may be decades older. In 2012, the United Nations Children's Fund reported that almost 400 million women between 20 and 49 years of age around the world had been married or had entered into a union before reaching 18 years of age. The Committees have therefore been paying particular attention to cases in which girls have been married against their full, free and informed consent, such as when they have been married too young to be physically and psychologically ready for adult life or to make conscious and informed decisions and thus not ready to consent to marriage. Other examples include cases in which guardians have the legal authority to consent to marriage of girls in accordance with customary or statutory law and in which girls are thus married contrary to the right to freely enter into marriage.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Child marriage is often accompanied by early and frequent pregnancy and childbirth, resulting in higher than average maternal morbidity and mortality rates. Pregnancy-related deaths are the leading cause of mortality for girls between 15 and 19 years of age, whether married or unmarried, around the world. Infant mortality among the children of very young mothers is higher (sometimes as much as two times higher) than among those of older mothers. In cases of child and/or forced marriage, in particular where the husband is significantly older than the wife, and where girls have limited education, the girls generally have limited decision-making power in relation to their own lives. Child marriage also contributes to higher rates of school dropout, especially among girls, forced exclusion from school and an increased risk of domestic violence, in addition to limiting the enjoyment of the right to freedom of movement.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Polygamy is contrary to the dignity of women and girls and infringes on their human rights and freedoms, including equality and protection within the family. Polygamy varies across, and within, legal and social contexts and its impact includes harm to the health of wives, understood as physical, mental and social well-being, the material harm and deprivation that wives are liable to suffer and emotional and material harm to children, often with serious consequences for their welfare.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Both women and girls find themselves in polygamous unions, with evidence showing that girls are much more likely to be married or betrothed to much older men, increasing the risk of violence and violations of their rights. The coexistence of statutory laws with religious, personal status and traditional customary laws and practices often contributes to the persistence of the practice. In some States parties, however, polygamy is authorized by civil law. Constitutional and other provisions that protect the right to culture and religion have also at times been used to justify laws and practices that allow for polygamous unions.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Crimes committed in the name of so-called honour are acts of violence that are disproportionately, although not exclusively, committed against girls and women because family members consider that some suspected, perceived or actual behaviour will bring dishonour to the family or community. Such forms of behaviour include entering into sexual relations before marriage, refusing to agree to an arranged marriage, entering into a marriage without parental consent, committing adultery, seeking divorce, dressing in a way that is viewed as unacceptable to the community, working outside the home or generally failing to conform to stereotyped gender roles. Crimes in the name of so-called honour may also be committed against girls and women because they have been victims of sexual violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- Victims seeking justice for violations of their rights as a result of harmful practices often face stigmatization, a risk of revictimization, harassment and possible retribution. Steps must therefore be taken to ensure that the rights of girls and women are protected throughout the legal process, in accordance with articles 2 (c) and 15 (2) and (3) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and that children are enabled to effectively engage in court proceedings as part of their right to be heard under article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 55f
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions adopt or amend legislation with a view to effectively addressing and eliminating harmful practices. In doing so, they should ensure:] That a minimum legal age of marriage for girls and boys, with or without parental consent, is established at 18 years. When a marriage at an earlier age is allowed in exceptional circumstances, the absolute minimum age must not be below 16 years, the grounds for obtaining permission must be legitimate and strictly defined by law and the marriage must be permitted only by a court of law upon the full, free and informed consent of the child or both children, who must appear in person before the court;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Both women and girls find themselves in polygamous unions, with evidence showing that girls are much more likely to be married or betrothed to much older men, increasing the risk of violence and violations of their rights. The coexistence of statutory laws with religious, personal status and traditional customary laws and practices often contributes to the persistence of the practice. In some States parties, however, polygamy is authorized by civil law. Constitutional and other provisions that protect the right to culture and religion have also at times been used to justify laws and practices that allow for polygamous unions.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women as a barrier to the effective realization of all human rights 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Violence against women is also manifested in ways that violate women's right to voluntary and equal marriage. Forced marriages, whether coerced through kidnapping or physical or sexual violence, is a means of forcing women into unwanted and unequal marriages. As the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and its consequences, has noted, physical and sexual violence against women is used to force women and girls into servile marriages, where women are treated as commodities purchased from their families, over which any or all the powers of ownership are exercised (A/HRC/24/43, para. 10).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2014, para. 12
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing also that child, early and forced marriage is inherently linked to deep-rooted gender inequalities, norms and stereotypes and to harmful practices, perceptions and customs that are obstacles to the full enjoyment of human rights and that the persistence of child, early and forced marriage places children, in particular the girl child, at risk of being exposed to and encountering various forms of discrimination and violence throughout their lives,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to condemn all harmful practices that affect women and girls, in particular female genital mutilations, whether committed within or outside a medical institution, and to take all necessary measures, especially through educational campaigns, including enacting and enforcing legislation, to prohibit female genital mutilations and to protect women and girls from this form of violence, and to hold perpetrators to account;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to pursue a comprehensive, culturally sensitive, systematic approach that incorporates a social perspective and is based on human rights and gender-equality principles in providing education and training to families, local community leaders and members of all professions relevant to the protection and empowerment of women and girls in order to increase awareness of and commitment to the elimination of female genital mutilations;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States to develop policies and regulations to ensure the effective implementation of national legislative frameworks on eliminating discrimination and violence against women and girls, in particular female genital mutilations, and to put in place adequate accountability mechanisms at the national and local levels to monitor adherence to and implementation of these legislative frameworks;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Polygamy is contrary to the dignity of women and girls and infringes on their human rights and freedoms, including equality and protection within the family. Polygamy varies across, and within, legal and social contexts and its impact includes harm to the health of wives, understood as physical, mental and social well-being, the material harm and deprivation that wives are liable to suffer and emotional and material harm to children, often with serious consequences for their welfare.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions ensure that any efforts undertaken to tackle harmful practices and to challenge and change underlying social norms are holistic, community based and founded on a rights-based approach that includes the active participation of all relevant stakeholders, especially women and girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that female genital mutilations constitute irreparable, irreversible harm that impairs the human rights of women and girls, affecting about 100 million to 140 million women and girls worldwide, and that each year an estimated further 3 million girls are at risk of being subjected to the practice throughout the world,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that negative discriminatory stereotypical attitudes and behaviours have direct implications for the status and treatment of women and girls and that such negative stereotypes impede the implementation of legislative and normative frameworks that guarantee gender equality and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned that, despite the increase in national, regional and international efforts and the focus on the abandonment of female genital mutilations, the practice continues to persist in all regions of the world, and is often on the rise for migrant women and girls,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Also urges States to ensure the national implementation of international and regional commitments and obligations undertaken as States parties to various international instruments protecting the full enjoyment of all human rights and the fundamental freedoms of women and girls;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Encourages men and boys to take positive initiatives and to work in partnership with women and girls to combat violence and discriminatory practices against women and girls, in particular female genital mutilations, through networks, peer programmes, information campaigns and training programmes;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child consistently note that harmful practices are deeply rooted in social attitudes according to which women and girls are regarded as inferior to men and boys based on stereotyped roles. They also highlight the gender dimension of violence and indicate that sex- and gender-based attitudes and stereotypes, power imbalances, inequalities and discrimination perpetuate the widespread existence of practices that often involve violence or coercion. It is also important to recall that the Committees are concerned that the practices are also used to justify gender-based violence as a form of "protection" or control of women and children in the home or community, at school or in other educational settings and institutions and in wider society. Moreover, the Committees draw States parties' attention to the fact that sex- and gender-based discrimination intersects with other factors that affect women and girls, in particular those who belong to, or are perceived as belonging to, disadvantaged groups, and who are therefore at a higher risk of becoming victims of harmful practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child consistently note that harmful practices are deeply rooted in social attitudes according to which women and girls are regarded as inferior to men and boys based on stereotyped roles. They also highlight the gender dimension of violence and indicate that sex- and gender-based attitudes and stereotypes, power imbalances, inequalities and discrimination perpetuate the widespread existence of practices that often involve violence or coercion. It is also important to recall that the Committees are concerned that the practices are also used to justify gender-based violence as a form of "protection" or control of women and children in the home or community, at school or in other educational settings and institutions and in wider society. Moreover, the Committees draw States parties' attention to the fact that sex- and gender-based discrimination intersects with other factors that affect women and girls, in particular those who belong to, or are perceived as belonging to, disadvantaged groups, and who are therefore at a higher risk of becoming victims of harmful practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The payment of dowries and bride prices, which varies among practising communities, may increase the vulnerability of women and girls to violence and to other harmful practices. The husband or his family members may engage in acts of physical or psychological violence, including murder, burning and acid attacks, for failure to fulfil expectations regarding the payment of a dowry or its size. In some cases, families will agree to the temporary "marriage" of their daughter in exchange for financial gains, also referred to as a contractual marriage, which is a form of trafficking in human beings. States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography have explicit obligations with regard to child and/or forced marriages that include dowry payments or bride prices because they could constitute a sale of children as defined in article 2 (a) of the Protocol. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has repeatedly stressed that allowing marriage to be arranged by such payment or preferment violates the right to freely choose a spouse and has in its general recommendation No. 29 outlined that such practice should not be required for a marriage to be valid and that such agreements should not be recognized by a State party as enforceable.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 69f
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Engage men and boys in creating an enabling environment that supports the empowerment of women and girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Another significant gap revealed by the survey is the dearth of data on laws, policies and advocacy on the gender dimensions of violence and the legal protection of girls: 40 per cent of the respondents provide no information on this question and less than 30 per cent mention positive initiatives. Legislation in the area remains a challenge, with less than half of Governments indicating the enactment of a legal ban on harmful practices, which may fully or only partially cover female genital mutilation/cutting, child or forced marriage, witchcraft rituals, honour killings and other practices.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The girl child 2013, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned that, despite its widespread practice, child, early and forced marriage is still underreported, recognizing that this requires further attention and that child, early and forced marriage exposes the girl child to greater risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections, often leads to premature sexual relations, early pregnancy and early childbearing and increases the risk of obstetric fistula and high levels of maternal mortality and morbidity, and furthermore entails complications during pregnancy and childbirth, which often lead to disability, stillbirth and maternal death, particularly for young women and girls, which require appropriate prenatal and postnatal health-care services for mothers, including in the area of skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care, and noting with concern that this reduces girls' opportunities to complete their education, gain comprehensive knowledge, participate in the community or develop employable skills and is likely to have a long-term adverse impact on their employment opportunities and their and their children's quality of life and violates and impairs the full enjoyment of their human rights,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2013, para. 2
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Reaffirming its resolution 66/170 of 19 December 2011 on the International Day of the Girl Child, and noting with appreciation the theme of the first International Day, “Ending child marriage”,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Rights of the child: The right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States to take all necessary measures to abolish harmful practices compromising the dignity and integrity of the child, and prejudicial to the health of boys and girls, particularly by preventing and explicitly condemning such practices including but not limited to female infanticide, female genital mutilation, virginity tests, early and forced marriage, forced sterilization, prenatal sex selection, breast ironing and harmful practices against children with disabilities and children with albinism, and to develop age-appropriate, gender-sensitive, safe and confidential programmes and medical, social and psychological support services to protect, treat, counsel and reintegrate child victims;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Rights of the child: The right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health 2013, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Urges States to ensure a clear ban on harmful practices, which should be accompanied by preventive measures that should include education, information-sharing, enhancement of awareness and engaging stakeholders, including community and religious leaders, for promoting the abandonment of those practices and respect for children’s rights, helping to overcome discriminatory attitudes and superstitious beliefs, thus supporting a process of social change for the abandonment of harmful practices that compromise the dignity and integrity of the child and are prejudicial to the health of boys and girls;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Around the world, countless numbers of girls and boys fall victim to harmful practices. Often violent in nature, these practices compromise the development and education of the child, have serious and long-lasting health and psychological consequences, and may result in disability or death. At the same time, positive experiences have led to the successful abandonment of these practices and a lasting commitment by concerned communities to prevent their occurrence and safeguard the protection of children's rights.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The rights of the child 2013, para. 11c
- Paragraph text
- [Calls upon all States:] To take all necessary and effective measures to prevent and eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls and all forms of violence, including female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, rape, sexual abuse and harmful traditional or customary practices, including female genital mutilation, child, early and forced marriage and forced sterilization, by enacting and enforcing legislation and, where appropriate, by formulating comprehensive, multidisciplinary and coordinated national plans, programmes or strategies to protect girls, as well as by promoting awareness-raising and social mobilization initiatives for the protection of their rights;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The girl child 2013, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Urges all States to enact and enforce legislation to protect girls from all forms of violence, discrimination and exploitation in all settings, including female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, female genital mutilation, rape, domestic violence, incest, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, child prostitution and child pornography, trafficking and forced migration, forced labour and child, early and forced marriage, and to develop age-appropriate safe, confidential and disability-accessible programmes and medical, social and psychological support services to assist girls who are subjected to violence and discrimination;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons 2013, para. 8c
- Paragraph text
- [Calls upon States to provide, as set forth in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and with the support of international and national stakeholders, for national laws and policies that comprehensively protect the human rights of internally displaced persons and adequately address the specific needs of internally displaced women and girls, including:] By strengthening efforts to prevent and respond effectively to, at all stages of displacement, sexual and gender-based violence, and harmful practices such as female genital mutilation, including outlining specific measures which States and the international community should take to ensure greater accountability for sexual and gender-based violence, and paying special attention to the health needs of women, including access to female health-care providers and services, as well as appropriate counselling for victims and survivors of sexual and other abuses;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage 2013, para. 1
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Recalling its resolutions 66/140 of 19 December 2011 on the girl child and 67/144 of 20 December 2012 on the intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women, as well as Human Rights Council resolution 24/23 of 27 September 2013, entitled “Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage: challenges, achievements, best practices and implementation gaps”, and all other previous resolutions relevant to child, early and forced marriage,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage: challenges, achievements, best practices and implementation gaps 2013, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned by the impact of deep-rooted gender inequalities, norms and stereotypes, and harmful traditional practices, perceptions and customs that are obstacles to the full enjoyment of human rights, in particular of women and girls, and are among the primary causes of child, early and forced marriage,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The girl child 2013, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned also that female genital mutilation violates and impairs the full enjoyment of the human rights of women and girls and that it is an irreparable and irreversible harmful practice, and that the goal of ending female genital mutilation in the next generation, as reaffirmed by the General Assembly in its resolution 67/146 of 20 December 2012, remains unfinished business,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The girl child 2013, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Urges all States to enact and strictly enforce laws ending child, early and forced marriage and ensure that marriage is entered into only with the informed, free and full consent of the intending spouses, to enact and strictly enforce laws concerning the minimum legal age of consent and the minimum age for marriage, to raise the minimum age for marriage, engage all stakeholders, where necessary, and ensure that these laws to end child, early and forced marriage are well known, to further develop and implement comprehensive policies, plans of action and programmes for the survival, protection, development and advancement of the girl child in order to promote and protect the full enjoyment of her human rights and to ensure equal opportunities for girls, including by making such plans an integral part of her total development process;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The girl child 2013, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Deeply concerned further about discrimination against the girl child and the violation of the rights of the girl child, which often result in less access for girls to education, and to quality education, nutrition, including food allocation, and physical and mental health-care services, in girls enjoying fewer of the rights, opportunities and benefits of childhood and adolescence than boys, and in leaving them more vulnerable than boys to the consequences of unprotected and premature sexual relations and often being subjected to various forms of cultural, social, sexual and economic exploitation and violence, abuse, rape, incest, honour-related crimes and harmful practices, such as female infanticide, child, early and forced marriage, prenatal sex selection and female genital mutilation,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- The study on harmful practices was released to mark the first anniversary of the International Day of the Girl Child, observed on 11 October 2012. Jointly developed with Plan International, in cooperation with the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the African Union, it served as a reference with a sound perspective during the 2013 celebration of the Day of the African Child, devoted to the theme: "Eliminating harmful social and cultural practices affecting children: our collective responsibility". The study will frame additional regional initiatives to support the abandonment of harmful practices, including the consultation organized with the South Asia Initiative to End Violence against Children (SAIEVAC) (an apex body of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)) in September 2013 in Bhutan.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The girl child 2013, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Stressing the need for the international community, the relevant United Nations entities, the specialized agencies, civil society and international financial institutions to continue to actively support, through the allocation of enhanced financial resources and technical assistance, targeted comprehensive programmes that address the needs and priorities of child-headed households and women and girls at risk of or subjected to child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The girl child 2013, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Taking note with appreciation of the adoption by the Human Rights Council of its resolution 24/23 of 27 September 2013 entitled “Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage: challenges, achievements, best practices and implementation gaps”,
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Comprehensive prevention strategies against sale and sexual exploitation of children 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- A number of social practices are rooted in discrimination against women. Child marriage is entrenched in social and gender norms that significantly affect the well-being of girls.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage: challenges, achievements, best practices and implementation gaps 2013, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Recalling States’ human rights obligations and commitments to prevent and eliminate the practice of child, early and forced marriage, which disproportionately affects women and girls,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism 2013, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- In some cases this phenomenon may be veiled in a "culturally acceptable" practice through, for instance, child marriage. In countries where early marriage is still a common practice, money can be offered to families to marry young girls, despite the marriage only lasting for the length of the stay. Visitors may also take the minor back to their country, where the child will be subjected to continual sexual exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 26a
- Paragraph text
- [The consultation highlighted the following issues:] The critical role of legislation, which constitutes a core dimension of States' accountability for the protection of children from violence and makes a decisive contribution to the abandonment of harmful practices against girls and boys by communities concerned;
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage: challenges, achievements, best practices and implementation gaps 2013, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage continues to be an impediment to not only the economic, legal, health and social status of women and girls but to the development of the community as a whole, and that the empowerment of and investment in women and girls, as well as their meaningful participation in decisions that affect them, is a key factor in breaking the cycle of gender inequality and discrimination, violence and poverty and is critical for sustainable development and economic growth,
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Servile marriage and domestic servitude are two forms of contemporary slavery that disproportionately affect women and girls. In a previous report, the Special Rapporteur defined servile marriage as an arrangement "in which a spouse is reduced to a commodity over whom any or all the powers of ownership are attached" (A/HRC/21/41, summary). Practices such as polygamy and "bride price", especially when coupled with the prevalence of domestic violence, are possible indicators of servile marriage. Women's bodies are directly tied to a family's honour in many cultures, and if a girl refuses to marry, "she can be subject to character assassination or kidnapping by the man or his family to force her into marriage or to rape her" (ibid., para. 71). There is little to no legal protection for women in these situations in many countries. Some countries have gone so far as to enact legislation that acquits perpetrators of rape if they marry their victim. If a woman enters into a servile marriage, she essentially becomes a slave to her husband and his family.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The girl child 2013, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on preventing and eliminating child, early and forced marriage with a particular focus on challenges, achievements, best practices and implementation gaps, as well as the summary report of the panel discussion to be held at the twenty-sixth session of the Human Rights Council, and decides to consider both documents at the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 88
- Paragraph text
- Gender influences perceptions and attitudes towards violence, as well as the manner in which violence is perpetrated and experienced. Gender-based violence against girls includes differential access to food and services, domestic or intimate partner violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, deprivation of inheritance or property and harmful practices, such as child marriage, female genital mutilation/cutting and honour killing. Gender-based violence also includes specific types of violence against men and boys, including bullying, fighting, and assault and gun crime.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Eliminating maternal mortality and morbidity through the empowerment of women 2012, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Also calls upon Member States to address gender inequalities, poverty, violations of the full enjoyment of all human rights by women and girls, including during childbirth, discrimination against women and girls, including that caused by negative attitudes and gender stereotypes, and harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation/cutting, that contribute to the unacceptably high and persistent global rate of maternal mortality and morbidity, bearing in mind the impact of multiple forms of discrimination; to guarantee to all women access to the highest attainable standard of health; and to ensure women's full participation in decision-making at the local, national and international levels regarding health care;
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- In its resolution 66/140, the General Assembly reiterated its call for an end to harmful traditional or customary practices, such as early and forced marriage, and called upon States to take appropriate measures to address the root factors of child and forced marriages, including by undertaking educational activities to raise awareness regarding the negative aspects of such practices. It urged all States to enact and strictly enforce laws to ensure that marriage was entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses, and, in addition, to enact and strictly enforce laws concerning the minimum legal age of consent and the minimum age for marriage and raise the minimum age for marriage where necessary, and to develop and implement comprehensive policies, plans of action and programmes for the survival, protection, development and advancement of the girl child in order to promote and protect the full enjoyment of her human rights and to ensure equal opportunities for girls, including by making such plans an integral part of her total development process.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The General Assembly also urged States to ensure that efforts to enact and implement legislation to end child and forced marriages engaged all stakeholders and agents of change and to ensure that the information on the legislation against the practice was well known and generated social support for the enforcement of such laws and legislation. States were urged to support community workshops and discussion sessions to enable communities to collectively explore ways to prevent and address child and forced marriages, provide information through stakeholders credible to the community, such as medical personnel and local, community and religious leaders, regarding the harm associated with those marriages, give greater voice to girls and ensure consistence of message throughout the entire community, and encourage the much-needed strong engagement of men and boys.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Gender-related killings of women 2012, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Honour killings take many forms, including direct murder; stoning; women and young girls being forced to commit suicide after public denunciations of their behaviour; and women being disfigured by acid burns, leading to death. Honour crimes are also linked to other forms of family violence, and are usually committed by male family members as a means of controlling women's sexual choices and limiting their freedom of movement. Punishment usually has a collective dimension, with the family as a whole believing it to be injured by a woman's actual or perceived behaviour, and is often public in character. The visibility of the issue and the punishment also serves a social objective, namely, influencing the conduct of other women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2012, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon the international community, the relevant United Nations entities and civil society and international financial institutions to continue to actively support, through the allocation of increased financial resources and technical assistance, targeted comprehensive programmes that address the needs and priorities of women and girls at risk of or subjected to female genital mutilations;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- In its general recommendation No. 24, the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women specifically recommends that States parties enact and effectively enforce laws that prohibit the marriage of girls. In its general recommendation No. 21, the Committee recognizes that forced marriage may exist as a result of cultural or religious beliefs, but maintains that a woman's right to choose a spouse and enter freely into marriage is central to her life and to her dignity and equality as a human being and that this must be protected and enforced by law.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Gender-related killings of women 2012, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The term femicide has been used in the context of killings of women in the private and public spheres. In some European contexts, such killings are described as "crimes of passion". In South Asia the term femicide has been adopted to encompass cultural practices in the region such as female infanticide, preadolescent mortality of girls and dowry-related deaths. The phenomena of so-called "honour killings" in the Middle East are rarely specifically labelled as acts of femicide, but some scholars have highlighted the femicidal nature of such acts and the impunity that accompanies such killings.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2012, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Also urges States to ensure the national implementation of international and regional commitments and obligations undertaken as States parties to various international instruments protecting the full enjoyment of all human rights and the fundamental freedoms of women and girls;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2012, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Also calls upon States to develop unified methods and standards for the collection of data on all forms of discrimination and violence against girls, especially forms that are underdocumented, such as female genital mutilations, and to develop additional indicators to effectively measure progress in eliminating the practice;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2012, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- Stresses that the empowerment of women and girls is key to breaking the cycle of discrimination and violence and for the promotion and protection of human rights, including the right to the highest attainable standard of mental and physical health, including sexual and reproductive health, and calls upon States parties to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as well as their commitments to implement the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Actionand the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, and of the special session of the Assembly on children;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation 2012, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon States to enhance awareness-raising and formal, non-formal and informal education and training in order to promote the direct engagement of girls and boys, women and men and to ensure that all key actors, Government officials, including law enforcement and judicial personnel, immigration officials, health-care providers, community and religious leaders, teachers, employers, media professionals and those directly working with girls, as well as parents, families and communities, work to eliminate attitudes and harmful practices, in particular all forms of female genital mutilations, that negatively affect girls;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
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Servile marriage 2012, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Article 21 (2) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child states that child marriage and the betrothal of girls and boys are to be prohibited and effective action, including legislation, is to be taken to specify the minimum age of marriage to be 18 years. Article 6 of the 2003 Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa states that no marriage is to take place without the free and full consent of both parties, and requires States to enact appropriate national legislative measures to guarantee that the minimum age of marriage for women is to be 18 years.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- In some communities, honour is connected with virtue, good works, righteous behaviour and obligations to one's parents, older persons and the community. Honour-related killings have often been associated with religious beliefs. These, however, are traditional or cultural practices. Among some Asian tribes, honour (or izzat) is associated with the female body and therefore women and girls must be guarded, protected and passed on to another member of the tribe. A girl or woman dishonours her family and tribe if her body is violated, even by force, and the shame can be cleansed only through her death.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Family status depends on honour. In patriarchal and patrilineal societies, maintaining the honour of the family is a woman's responsibility. The concept of women as commodities and not as human beings endowed with dignity and rights equal to those of men is deeply embedded in these societies. Women are seen as the property of men and must be obedient and passive, rather than assertive and active. Any assertive behaviour is considered to be an element that would result in an imbalance of power relations within the parameters of the family unit (E/CN.4/2002/83, para. 27). UNICEF reports that in some countries, early marriages are regarded by families as a means of protecting girls from premarital sex that would undermine their honour and that of their families.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Girls and women who seek to leave servile marriage may be victims of acid attacks or honour-related killings. Acid attacks, which involve the use of sulphuric acid to disfigure or kill, have been reported in Asia, Europe and North and Latin America.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Adolescents and youth 2012, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Urges all States to develop, adopt and fully implement laws and to take other measures, such as policies and educational programmes, as appropriate, to eradicate harmful practices, including female genital mutilation and early and forced marriage, which are violations of the human rights of women and girls, and to intensify efforts, in cooperation with local women's and youth groups, to raise collective and individual awareness on how such harmful practices violate the human rights of women and girls;
- Body
- Commission on Population and Development
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- As a result of cultural beliefs, girls and women with dual nationality are sometimes abducted by their families from one country and forced to marry men from their parents' country of origin. This has happened in the United Kingdom to women from Asian diaspora communities. The Governments involved have worked through consular assistance and judicial proceedings to provide victims with effective remedies. In 2005, the United Kingdom set up a forced marriage unit under the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office to tackle the issue.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
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